Professional Logging Contractors of the Northeast Log A Load for Maine Kids effort raises record $287,691 in 2023
AUGUSTA, ME – The Professional Logging Contractors (PLC) of the Northeast raised a record $287,691 for Children’s Miracle Network (CMN) Hospitals in Maine in 2023 through its annual Log A Load for Kids fundraising efforts.
The total shattered the previous record set in 2022 of $262,403, with the PLC’s two Log A Load golf tournaments and the Log A Load live auction at the PLC’s annual membership meeting performing strongly while funds raised at the American Loggers Council (ALC) annual meeting in Bethel, ME also contributed to the total.
“It is truly inspiring that despite the many challenges facing the Northeast’s logging industry, PLC’s Members, Supporting Members, friends, and families rallied once again in 2023 to raise a record amount for Children’s Miracle Network hospitals,” Dana Doran, Executive Director of the PLC, said. “No matter what the conditions in the industry are, this group always reaches deep for the kids and their families.”
On Jan. 19, Doran presented a check for the funds to representatives from 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 PLC’s office in Augusta. Those accepting the check on behalf of the hospitals were Victoria Sorrentino, Philanthropy Officer for the Eastern Maine Medical Center Childrens Miracle Network Hospital program at Northern Light Health; and Kate Richardson, Children’s Miracle Network Senior Philanthropy Manager for Barbara Bush Children’s Hospital (BBCH).
“It’s difficult to properly express the gratitude that we feel for this community. We continue to be in awe of the ways the bar is raised each year and how this community rises to the challenge every time,” Richardson said. “We were also thrilled to welcome loggers from across America this year who helped us achieve this incredible fundraising total during the ALC’s annual membership meeting. It certainly proves that the generosity of the logging community extends far beyond Maine’s state lines.”
“I’d like to echo Kate’s sentiments. The words thank you don’t seem enough to express how grateful we are to folks in the logging and forest products industry,” Kelly Pearson, Director of the Children’s Miracle Network Hospital program and Corporate Engagement at Northern Light Health, said. “Each year they dig deeper to ensure that kids who need care have access to the very best in Maine. From the bottom of our hearts, thank you.”
The PLC’s Log A Load efforts have now raised more than $2.195 million since 1995.
The PLC raises the majority of Log A Load funds during an auction at its annual membership meeting in the spring and at golf tournaments in Lovell and Lincoln, Maine in August and September. Some additional funds are raised through the sale of items including holiday ornaments and through end of year 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 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 CMN hospital and includes a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit that has received support for years from the PLC’s Log A Load efforts. The PLC partners with The Barbara Bush Children’s Hospital at Maine Medical Center in Portland for the southern tournament.
The Log A Load for Kids program started 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
Founded by loggers who were concerned about the future of the logging and forest trucking industry, the PLC has grown steadily to become a regional trade association which provides independent logging contractors and truckers in the Northeast 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.
