Bangor

Grant for Scouting

Thanks to a grant from the TD Banknorth Foundation, Abnaki Girl Scout Council, with the support of the Bangor Housing Authority, will present the 12-week program “Growing Strong” during the late winter and early spring at the Community Center on Davis Road.

Designed to serve 60 girls and a significant female in their lives who reside in the Capehart community, Growing Strong will focus on activities that are fun and educational. Girls and their mothers or another important female in their lives will discover their own strengths and talents, find out how physical activity and good food choices lead to healthier living, and learn how to be safe at home, at school and in the community.

As a gift to the community, participants will look around their neighborhoods to find a need, then design and carry out a service project to fill it.

Abnaki Girl Scout Council CEO Lucy Eaton Hawkins said the grant “provides us with a unique opportunity to deliver a program which engages adults and youth together and helps work on raising self-image and aspirations of the children and women in the community.”

Weekly sessions include games, songs, snacks, a program related to one of the goals as well as planning and work time for the community project.

The TD Banknorth grant will cover all program expenses so there will be no cost to participants. Registration and more detailed program information will be available later this fall.

Supporting the military

A husband and wife have been honored for their support of the military in Bangor. Harry and Sharon Rideout of Hermon are the 2005 recipients of the Zachary and Elizabeth Fisher Distinguished Civilian Humanitarian Award. The two were honored during an Oct. 26 ceremony at the Pentagon.

The couple was honored for work creating the Bangor Greeters Group at Bangor International Airport. The all-volunteer group greets soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines as they pass through the airport, either going to or returning from overseas deployments.

Since May 2003, greeters have touched the lives of more than 200,000 U.S. military members. In addition to welcoming members home and wishing them well as they deploy, the group lends returning members cellular phones so they can call loved ones as they step off their airplanes. The group also was instrumental in creating a welcome facility at the airport where troops can relax before deploying or can for a ride upon returning to the United States.

The Rideouts also headed the cleanup of the home of a soldier and his family after it was destroyed by fire. In another effort, they led the distribution of flannel shirts and sweat shirts to veterans in the Togus Medical Center in Augusta.

At the ceremony, Sharon Rideout said she and her husband appreciated the honor but shifted focus from their contributions to those of U.S. military members.

“It has always been a pleasure to thank a soldier, to thank a member of our United States military for his or her service to our country. They are keeping America safe, and we appreciate it so much,” she said. “We are very honored and very humbled and grateful for this award. But we want you to know this is not about us. It is about the members, and the men and women in our Army, our Air Force, our Navy and our Marine Corps, those who have served, those who are serving, and those who will serve.”

In 1996, the Department of Defense service secretaries created the Fisher award in honor of Zachary and Elizabeth Fisher, who contributed extensively to the support and welfare of members of the armed services. The Fishers are best known as founders of the Fisher House, which is special lodging for military families with sick or injured loved ones.