Tournament raised $60,612 for Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals in Maine
LINCOLN – The Professional Logging Contractors (PLC) of Maine held its 27th Annual Northern Maine Log A Load for Maine Kids Golf Tournament Friday, Sept. 15, raising $60,612 for Children’s Miracle Network (CMN) Hospitals in Maine.
The sold-out tournament at JATO Highlands Golf Course drew 40 teams from across the state to raise money for the children served by CMN hospitals, playing under mostly sunny skies in advance of the weekend’s Hurricane Lee.
“Maine loggers and truckers took up this cause nearly three decades ago and no matter what the conditions in the industry have been from year to year they have never wavered in their support of it since then,” Dana Doran, Executive Director of the PLC, said. “The same can be said for our many friends and supporters in the industry who have stepped up faithfully every tournament to make a difference for the kids and their families, and I am proud of everyone involved.”
“Maine’s logging and trucking industry and its supporters is nothing short of incredible when it comes to helping the community and giving back,” Kelly Pearson, Director of the Children’s Miracle Network Hospital program and Corporate Engagement at Northern Light Health, said. “It means so much to us. It can be the toughest year for the industry, and they still come out to support the kids, and that just speaks volumes to who these people are. They have the kindest hearts, and it means so much to us. We are so grateful!”
The PLC hosts two Log A Load golf tournaments each year, with its newer Aug. 25 Southern Maine tournament at the Kezar Lake Country Club in Lovell, Maine already completed, having raised $47,377.
Friday’s tournament kicked off with opening remarks at 8:30 a.m. and a shotgun start at 9 a.m. and concluded with awards and a barbecue.
The PLC’s Log A Load efforts have now raised more than $2.135 million since 1995. Already in 2023, the PLC Annual Meeting Log a Load for Maine Kids Auction raised $127,723. The PLC will continue to raise funds for Log A Load through the end of the year through the sale of logger Christmas ornaments and from additional donations.
The PLC partners with both the Barbara Bush Children’s Hospital (BBCH) and Northern Light Health Foundation for its annual Log A Load fund drive. BBCH in Portland and Northern Light in Bangor are both CMN Hospitals.
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. BBCH joined the Log A Load effort in 2019 and all 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. BBCH and Northern Light in Bangor both have Neonatal Intensive Care Units that have 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.
