Featured Bloggers
| Penny Kern | Trudy Hamilton | Pete Phair | Sarah Ryan | Margaret Puckett
Anne Schink | Noble Smith | Ann Swain | Patricia Kimball | Michael Aiguier |Jamie Andrew |Matt Robinson |Maine AmeriCorps Alums|
Penny Kern recently retired from Abnaki Girl Scout Council (now Girl Scouts of Maine) as Membership Program Manager. For 17 years, she was responsible for recruiting, placing, training and supporting about 250 adults annually for the Girl Scout programs in Aroostook County. She has designed a variety of learning opportunities for adults and has been a facilitator of adult learners for a program for the State of New Jersey, International Paper and the American Red Cross since 1976. She is married to a retired Air Force Sergeant. She has four grown children, 5 (soon to be 6) grandchildren and a great grandchild. Originally from Pennsylvania, Penny and her husband decided to settle in Maine after 26 years of moving all over the world.
Trudy Hamilton is a Certified Volunteer Administrator (CVA) and was most recently the Manager of Volunteer Resources for SeniorsPlus. Prior to that, she was a Membership and Marketing Manager for Girl Scouts of Kennebec Council for 5 years, after serving on a local Girl Scout Service Team for several years. During that time, she consistently increased the volunteer base in western Maine, and their capacity to serve girls. She holds a bachelor’s degree in secondary education, and recently obtained the credential of Certified in Volunteer Administration (CVA). She currently serves on the Board of Directors for the Association of Leaders in Volunteer Engagement (AL!VE) as Treasurer, and is active in the Portland Association of Volunteer Administrators (PAVA). She is also active with the VolunteerMaine.org VISTA project, and owns Western Maine Consultants. Trudy resides in her hometown of South Paris, with her family, including her chocolate Labrador retriever, Spirit.
Pete Phair is the Outreach Coordinator for WinterKids in Portland. He has worked with and for kids his entire career and has been a camp director, a teacher, a whitewater raft guide, an educational consultant and as a children’s safety advocate. Besides WinterKids, he has worked for the Bicycle Coalition of Maine, Pine Tree Camp and the Bangor YWCA. He has served on numerous boards and currently volunteers for Teens To Trails, the Trek Across Maine and the Bicycle Coalition of Maine. He lives in Wayne with his 10 year old daughter and in his spare time, enjoys mountain and road bicycling, whitewater rafting, skiing and playing ice hockey.
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Sarah E. Ryan is an Assistant Professor of Communication, Adjunct Professor of African American Studies, and Research Fellow in The Sam Donaldson Center for Communication Studies at The University of Texas at El Paso. Dr. Ryan teaches courses in Organizational Communication, Public Communication, Communication & Conflict, Leadership, Communication for Social Change, and Women’s Studies. Her scholarship has appeared in journals such as Peace Review, Contemporary Argumentation & Debate, Review of Communication, and Journal of Public Affairs Education. In 2009, she received the Business Council for Peace’s VERA award for her contribution to its Afghanistan and Rwanda “Race to Innovation” programs. Dr. Ryan holds a Ph.D. in Rhetorical Criticism, an M.A. in Interpersonal Communication, and a Graduate Certificate in Women’s Studies from Ohio University, as well as a B.A. in Organizational Communication from Capital University (Columbus, Ohio).
Margaret Puckett is Volunteer Services Coordinator at St. Joseph Hospital in Bangor, Maine. Born and raised in New Hampshire, Margaret spread her wings in New York, Kentucky, Texas, Japan, Washington, D.C., and Germany. Achieving the rank of Lieutenant Colonel, Margaret retired from a twenty-year career in the US Army in 1994. Five years of volunteering helped ease the way from military to civilian life. Her volunteering jobs included church Christmas pageant costumer, Sunday school teacher, teacher aide, Girl Scout leader, costumer at the local community theater, school yearbook editor, and editor for a church newsletter.
With a B.A in fine arts from Stony Brook University, Margaret’s artistic talents are evident in her hobbies: crocheting, sewing, home improvement projects, genealogy research, and photo restoration. Whether she is greeting the troops at the Bangor International Airport as a Maine Troop Greeter, participating in the Volunteer Maine Leadership Network or directing her volunteers at work, it is Margaret’s love of people that shines through.
Anne Schink is a consultant in volunteer management, training, and facilitation offering services to nonprofit organizations, public entities, and faith-based organizations. From 1995 to 2009 Anne was the Program/Training/Disability Officer at the Maine Commission for Community Service. During that time she worked directly with AmeriCorps program directors, staff, and members to strengthen programs through training and technical assistance. She organized conferences, training events, and small meetings. Anne has also provided professional coaching support to program directors and staff on grants management, program design, goals, objectives, and evaluation. As the Disability Coordinator she supported programs to recruit, retain, and include individuals with disabilities in all parts of the AmeriCorps programs.
Anne previously worked as a large group facilitator in public policy, worked in a public policy consulting firm, and provided leadership in many nonprofit organizations. She also serves on the InforME Board which was created to support the State of Maine’s development of e-government and e-commerce. Anne continues her volunteer activities with the League of Women Voters, Jump Start, and her church. She has two grown daughters and lives in South Portland.
Noble Smith is President of Noble Smith Associates, a 28-year old development, fund raising management and marketing company. Prior to forming his own company, Noble served as senior development officer at the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia Museum of Art and Wheaton College in Norton, Massachusetts. He also served as Senior Vice President of Barnes and Roche, a national fund raising and development firm.
Noble has served as an appointed volunteer on numerous state and regional environmental, conservation and preservation commissions in Pennsylvania and Massachusetts. He has taught The Art of Asking to numerous non-profits and boards of directors for the past 25 years. Noble holds degrees from Harvard University and the University of Pennsylvania, spends his free time bird watching and restoring historic houses and lives in Harpswell in a restored Maine cottage with his wife, Bertie, and the constant visits by their 6 grown children and 12 grandchildren.
Ann Swain received her MPA and Bachelors degree from the University of Florida, in Sociology and Gerontology/Psychology. She is the current Director of the UMaine Extension Senior Companion Program. Ann has held various positions in the volunteer sector including, Director of the Community Relations Volunteer Program at Immanuel Lutheran Corporation, and with the Medical Guild Auxiliary Volunteer Program at Shands Teaching Hospital. Ann currently serves on the National Senior Service Corps of Maine Board.
Patricia Kimball is the owner/founder of Ideactive Solutions, a newly launched organization that offers grant writing and consultation services to help nonprofit agencies, small businesses and budding entrepreneurs turn their ideas into action. Prior to founding Ideactive Solutions, Patricia was employed as the Director of Community Development by Volunteers of America Northern New England. Patricia has worked in the not-for-profit world for over 20 years, in diverse capacities and with a variety of populations. She has an undergraduate degree in English, a Master’s in Human Services Administration and a Master’s degree in Community Economic Development. Patricia lives in Georgetown with her husband and two faithful animal companions.
Michael Aiguier is an AmeriCorps VISTA with the VolunteerMaine Project serving at the United Way of Eastern Maine. He has received certificates in sound engineering and religious studies. He lives in the Bangor area with his wife Jenn and their two dogs, two rabbits and cat. They also enjoy spending time with their horse, Snowflake, a retired Standard bred race horse.
Jamie Andrew has been an Educator & Volunteer Coordinator at the Children’s Museum & Theatre of Maine since 2008, the first year of which was a term as an AmeriCorps CRC member. When she’s not leading Ancient Chinese Star Shows, teaching kids how Sea Stars eat, or making Kale chips, she’s recruiting and managing the Museum & Theatre’s volunteer base of upwards of 50 amazing, creative, and wonderful volunteers. Jamie has her BFA in Painting from the Maryland Institute, College of Art and couldn’t be putting her degree to better use. She lives in Portland’s West End with her orchid collection and paintings-in-progress.
Matt Robinson is an education consultant with KIDS Consortium (www.kidsconsortium.org), where he designs and delivers service-learning professional development, and collaborates with school district and community leadership teams as they develop policies and supports to integrate and sustain service-learning. Matt also coordinates Project Citizen in Maine with the national Center for Civic EducationMatt joined KIDS Consortium after teaching students at the middle and high school levels in alternative and regular education settings. He approaches the work of an education consultant as a classroom practitioner of service-learning. Matt earned a B.S. degree in Education from the University of Maine at Farmington and a M.Ed from the University of Maine. He lives in Saco with his wife and daughter.
Maine AmeriCorps Alums is a community for service-minded individuals based in Portland. We engage in service projects, host social events, and promote national service. Our mission is to fully realize the potential of national service alumni as leaders in communities. Join us for info on events, networking, job leads, service projects, volunteer opportunities, and to be a part of a community of change! Find us on facebook or at www.americorpsalumsme.org.