BREWER – The Professional Logging Contractors (PLC) of Maine has raised a record $135,007 for Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals in Maine this year through its annual Log A Load for Maine Kids fund raising efforts.
PLC Executive Director Dana Doran presented a check for the funds Dec. 5 to Northern Light/Eastern Maine Medical Center in Bangor and the Barbara Bush Children’s Hospital at Maine Medical Center in Portland. The check was presented at the Forest Resources Association monthly forum in Brewer.
Left to right, Kelly Pearson, Director of the Children’s Miracle Network Hospital program at Northern Light Health, PLC Executive Director Dana Doran, and Kate Richardson, Children’s Miracle Network Senior Philanthropy Manager for Barbara Bush Children’s Hospital.
“The PLC went into this year’s Log A Load fund drive determined to raise more money than ever, and added a second golf tournament, in Lovell, in partnership with the Barbara Bush Children’s Hospital as part of that effort,” Doran said. “The success of the new tournament and the continuing strength of our tournament in Lincoln combined with record funds raised at our annual meeting this year resulted in a 45% increase in the net total funds raised above and beyond 2018. This wouldn’t be possible without the unwavering support of our membership, our supporting members, volunteers, generous sponsors and donors. The PLC is proud of this effort and proud to be part of the forest products value chain in Maine.”
Accepting the check were Kelly Pearson, Director of the Children’s Miracle Network Hospital program at Northern Light Health, and Kate Richardson, Children’s Miracle Network Senior Philanthropy Manager for Barbara Bush Children’s Hospital.
This year the PLC held Log A Load golf tournaments Sept. 6 at the Kezar Lake Country Club in Lovell, Maine and Sept. 20 at JATO Highlands Golf Course in Lincoln, Maine. The spring PLC Annual Meeting Log A Load auction is also a major fund raiser. Additional funds are raised throughout the year through the sale of PLC items as well as donations.
The PLC and the Northern Light Health Foundation (formerly Eastern Maine Health Systems Foundation) have partnered in the Log A Load fund-raising effort since 1996. Donations, which have now surpassed $1.2 million, have gone to support research and training, purchase equipment, and pay for uncompensated care, all in support of the mission to save and improve the lives of as many children in Maine as possible. Eastern Maine Medical Center in Bangor is a Children’s Miracle Network Hospital and includes a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit that has received support for years from the PLC’s Log A Load efforts.
The South Carolina Forestry Association started the Log A Load for Kids program in 1988. Originally, the concept was for loggers, wood-supplying businesses, and other industry supporters in various states including Maine to donate the value of a load of logs to their local Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals.
Nationally, Log A Load for Kids is a leader in CMN Hospitals’ fundraising, raising more than $2 million annually through golf tournaments, fishing events, dinners, truckloads of log donations and other events.
For more information, please visit www.logaload.org.
Maine’s loggers are a vital part of the state’s forest products sector, which is worth an estimated $8.5 billion annually. Logging contributed an estimated $882 million to the state economy in 2014.
Founded in 1995 with a handful of members who were concerned about the future of the industry, the PLC has grown steadily to become a statewide trade association which provides independent logging contractors a voice in the rapidly changing forest products industry. Board membership consists of only loggers, making it an organization that is run by loggers on behalf of loggers.
Learn more about the PLC at www.maineloggers.com.