The Kennebec Valley Chamber of Commerce is so thankful for its members. To show our appreciation, we are celebrating Membership Appreciation the entire month of April!

Throughout the month the Chamber will be conducting daily contests on Facebook with 17 total prize drawings. Winners will be selected at random and will be invited to come to the Chamber to collect their prize. If you don't win one of the daily contests we encourage you to keep playing along and sharing your support for local businesses! Those that do not win one of the daily prizes will be entered to win a prize drawing each Friday in the month of April. Contests begin on Monday, April 5th.

Each business day of the month will feature one of the below industries with multiple prizes that also relate to the industry.

Wednesday, April 14th | 12:00 - 1:00PM

Secretary of State Shenna Bellows is Maine’s 50th Secretary of State, sworn into her first two-year term in the position on Jan. 4, 2021. Secretary Bellows is Maine’s first female Secretary of State. Secretary Bellows previously served two terms in the Maine Senate from 2016-2020, representing 11 towns in southern Kennebec County. In the Maine Senate, she served as Senate Chair of the Labor and Housing Committee and served on the Judiciary Committee. She was a 2020 presidential elector in the Electoral College. Secretary Bellows most recently led the Holocaust and Human Rights Center of Maine as executive director from 2018 to 2020.

Join Cynergy for Virtual Trivia Night! The trivia will be played via Kahoot, and it will helpful to download Kahoot prior to joining the virtual event.

Wednesday, April 21st | 10:00am - 11:00am

First elected in 1996, Senator Collins has earned a national reputation as an effective legislator who works across party lines to seek consensus on our nation’s most important issues. For the past seven consecutive years, Senator Collins has ranked as the most bipartisan member of the U.S. Senate by the Lugar Center and Georgetown University.

Senator Collins ranks eleventh in Senate seniority and is the most senior Republican woman. She serves on the Appropriations Committee, and she is the Ranking Member of the Transportation, Housing, and Urban Development Appropriations Subcommittee. She also serves on the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee; the Aging Committee; and the Intelligence Committee.

Although we are not networking together face-to-face, we are excited to catch up and network virtually! Our members are invited to join us on Wednesday, April 28th from 4:00 to 5:00 p.m. for a virtual Business After Hours. During the virtual event, there will be break-out rooms with smaller groups to allow for more networking opportunities. Join us to share updates on your business and reconnect with the KV Chamber!

A special thank you to all our sponsors, especially our Presenting Sponsor, Kennebec Savings Bank! The Kenney Awards would not be possible without our community's support.

Does your business need PPE? The KV Chamber has masks available for our members! Please contact us at info@kennebecvalleychamber.com or by calling (207) 623-4559 so we can assist you with your needs.

Central Maine Power | Macomber, Farr & Whitten

Kennebec Valley Y.M.C.A. | Smart Eye Care | U.S. Cellular

20+ Years

Bangor Savings Bank | Sam's Club

Augusta Country Club | Capital Area Staffing Solutions Inc. | Darling's Chrysler, Dodge, Hyundai | Kozak & Gayer, P.A. | Marshall Communications | O'Connor Volkswagen

A2Z Computing Services, Inc. | Blane Casey Building Contractors, Inc. | Columbia Classic Cars | Hampton Inn | Maine Forest Products Council | Sherwin-Williams | Snow Pond Center for the Arts | Snow Pond Technology Group

Goodwill Northern New England | Lakehome Group | Maritime Energy | Staples | Stevens & Day, LLP

Camden National Bank Announced that Nate Cotnoir was promoted to Senior Vice President Northern Maine Director of Commercial Banking. Based out of Bangor, Cotnoir will be responsible for managing all commercial banking activities and production in the bank’s Greater Bangor, Augusta, Waterville, and Downeast markets. Cotnoir has nearly 19 years of experience in commercial banking and finance. 

Gardiner FCU had to cancel several planned fundraisers for the Campaign for Ending Hunger due to the pandemic, including their annual yard sale and the spaghetti dinner. Missing out on those two fundraisers could have set them way back, but the credit union members and their community members supported every remaining fundraiser. Thanks to their support, Gardiner FCU will be donating a total of just under $20,000 to several area food banks and organizations that help provide meals to those who may otherwise go without.

Golden Pond's founder and managing director, Brian Bernatchez, CFP, announced inclusion in LPL’s Executive Council. This elite award is presented to less than 1% of the firm’s more than 17,000 financial advisors nationwide. Since 1996, Golden Pond Wealth Management is a family owned and operated firm celebrating its 25th anniversary in 2021—affiliated with LPL Financial since inception. LPL Financial is a leader in the retail financial advice market and the nation’s largest independent broker/dealer.

MaineGeneral Health is now accepting applications for its 2021 Health Scholarship Program. Scholarships support the education of health care professionals in the Kennebec Valley and are available to individuals pursuing degrees in a variety of health-related disciplines. In 2020, MaineGeneral Health and individual sponsors awarded more than $40,000 in scholarships to 49 students in the Kennebec Valley. Scholarship recipients ranged in age from 17 to 50, pursuing degrees in nursing, radiology, pharmacy, sports medicine, social work and other health care careers. Scholarships generally range $500 to $2,500 each. To learn more about MaineGeneral’s Scholarship Program and how to apply, visit https://give.mainegeneral.org/scholarships. The application deadline is Wednesday, April 7.

Marshall Communications (MC) was recently honored with two Golden Arrow Awards from the Maine Public Relations Council (MPRC) at the 2020 Virtual MPRC Awards Ceremony held on Feb. 24, 2021. Now celebrating 30 years in the business, Marshall Communications has won 26 awards, including its more recent Golden Arrow awards, since 2010. MC was awarded gold in the video/podcast category for The PR Maven® Podcast, a podcast hosted by Marshall herself featuring interviews with industry leaders, top executives, media personalities, and online influencers. MC was also honored with a silver award for their media relations campaign for Trek Across Maine. The virtual event raised $550,000.

U.S. Small Business Administration is offering two webinars in the month of April. The first is called "Surety Bond Guarantee Webinar" and is on April 14th, from 9:00am to 10:00am. For more information on this webinar you can contact Jim Pineau, Senior Area Manager at (207)945-2021 or james.pineau@sba.gov. The second webinar is called "Basic Business Startup Webinar" and is on April 28th, from 9:00am to 11:00am. If this class is full, the next class scheduled will be held on May 24th, 2021.

To submit Member News, send your press releases to: info@kennebecvalleychamber.com

We are excited to announce that Amy Gingras is joining the team as our new Marketing Coordinator. Amy graduated Magna Cum Laude from the University of Maine Farmington in 2019 with a degree in Political Science. She has worked for Clark Marine, Maine Department of Transportation, and the University of Maine Farmington, all in a Communications capacity. Please join us in welcoming her to our team.

In this announcement, we would like to thank Caroline Saban for her 3.5 years at the Chamber. We wish her the best of luck in her future endeavors.

Augusta Civic Center

Walton External Affairs

PERFORMANCE Foodservice - NorthCenter

J.S. McCarthy Printers

Quality Inn & Suites Maine Evergreen Hotel

MaineGeneral Health

Capital Area Staffing Solutions, Inc.

Kennebec Valley Chamber of Commerce

Lipman Katz & Boston, P.A

Camden National Bank

Sprague & Curtis Real Estate

Ellis Law, LLC

G&E Roofing Co., Inc.

Cross Insurance Agency

Central Maine Pyrotechnics

Ganneston Construction Corp.

Stained Glass Express

Macomber, Farr & Whitten

Kennebec Savings Bank

Central Maine Power Company

University of Maine at Augusta

Katie L. Doherty, President & CEO, kld@kennebecvalleychamber.com

Lindsay L. Corbett, Office Manager, llc@kennebecvalleychamber.com

Kayla M. Tracy, Events & Membership Director, kmt@kennebecvalleychamber.com

Caroline A. Saban, Marketing Director, cas@kennebecvalleychamber.com

Amy P. Gingras, Marketing Coordinator, apg@kennebecvalleychamber.com