Record $44,207 raised for Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals in Maine! Northern tournament coming Sept. 16.
LOVELL – The Professional Logging Contractors (PLC) of Maine held its fourth annual Log A Load for Maine Kids Southern Maine Golf Tournament Friday, Aug. 26 in Lovell, raising a record $44,207 for Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals in Maine.
Three years ago, the PLC expanded its fund-raising efforts to hold two Log A Load golf tournaments, adding a new southern tournament at the Kezar Lake Country Club in Lovell, Maine in addition to the annual northern tournament at JATO Highlands Golf Course in Lincoln, Maine. The northern Maine tournament will be held on Sept. 16.
The PLC partners with The Barbara Bush Children’s Hospital at Maine Medical Center in Portland for the southern tournament, and funds raised and participation have grown each year since its founding. Last year’s event raised $41,696.
“This year team spots for the tournament sold out for the first time, and it is gratifying to see how the support and generosity of our PLC Members, Supporting Members, partners and friends have grown this event into a major fund raiser for Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals in Maine in such a short period of time,” PLC Executive Director Dana Doran said. “These are very challenging times in the logging industry, yet this group consistently rises to the challenge and devotes an incredible amount of time, effort, and resources to the Log A Load cause.”
“Our hospitals have faced significant fundraising challenges in recent years due to the COVID-19 pandemic and we could not be more grateful for the steadfast support of the Professional Logging Contractors of Maine and the entire logging community who show up each year to help us raise the bar on the care that we can provide for Maine families,” Kate Richardson, CMN Senior Philanthropy Manager for The Barbara Bush Children’s Hospital at Maine Medical Center, said. “The local partnerships that The Barbara Bush Children’s Hospital has developed through the Log A Load for Kids program continue to amaze and inspire us.”
The PLC’s Log A Load efforts have raised more than $1.85 million since 1995. Already in 2022, the PLC Annual Meeting Log a Load for Maine Kids Auction set a new record, raising $144,399, putting the total funds raised this year at more than $188,000 with the Northern tournament still to come.
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 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 $7.7 billion annually. Logging contributed an estimated $619 million to the state economy in 201