PRESQUE ISLE – A local lawyer and a band that performs to raise money for charity have been honored by the Presque Isle Area Chamber of Commerce.

Floyd L. Harding, who has been a lawyer in Presque Isle since the mid-1950s, was honored with the Chamber’s Lifetime Achievement Award.

The seven members of Sound Friendships, a band that performs to help local causes and organizations, were recognized as the 2002 Citizens of the Year.

Both were honored last week at the chamber’s annual meeting and awards banquet.

Harding was nominated for his award by the Presque Isle Kiwanis Club, of which he is a member, and was a founding member in 1950.

In addition to his membership in the Kiwanis Club, Harding has been a member of the board of directors for the A.R. Gould Memorial Hospital since 1958, serving as the board’s president in 1963 and 1964.

He also has been a member of the Chamber of Commerce, serving as its president in 1958, and the Chamber’s Live Wire Club, for which he was chairman from 1952 to 1954.

More recently, Harding was chairman of the committee that oversaw fund-raising efforts for the Grant Memorial Methodist Church, which was destroyed by fire in 1996.

A Democrat, Harding was elected to three terms in the Maine Senate and served as majority leader from 1965 to 1967. He was minority floor leader from 1967 to 1969. He also has served as chairman of the Presque Isle and Aroostook County Democratic committees.

Sound Friendships was formed in 1998 and since then has raised more than $100,000 for charity. The band’s logo is Helping People Through Music.

Band members are Marcus Baressi, Steve Mazerolle, Lela Lyons, Steve Quist, Sherrie Pelletier, Brooks Mazerolle and Sam Barrett. Their ages range from teen-age to the late 40s.

Spouses and friends of band members serve as road crew, stage crew and support staff.

Beneficiaries of the group’s performances have included cancer patients, a summer camp for disabled children, hospitals, a food pantry for the disadvantaged, a school music program and other church and fraternal organizations.

The band members take no pay, but instead perform for donations, which are then given to charitable causes and groups.