Speakers

It is with great pleasure that the Auburn-Lewiston Rotary Breakfast Club announces our 2019 Rotary Youth Fellowship Awards (RYLA) recipient, Chantel St. Laurent.

A RYLA recipient is between the ages of 18-35, is committed to their community, education, and is on track to become an asset for both the area and their family and friends. Chantel fits that bill and more.

She is a mother of two young children, works a full time job and is on track to graduate with an associates degree in Human Services in the Spring. Chantel is very active in the state and local community in addressing the issues surrounding addiction and suicide prevention. She was presented a Community Leader award from the Maine People's Alliance in June 2019 for her work in presenting ideas to local and state leadership.

As part of the RYLA experience, Chantel will travel to Adventure Bound in Carratunk, Maine in September to join other recipients for team building exercises, as well as fun on a rope course and whitewater rafting. Rotary District 7790 incorporates part of Maine and Quebec, so dual-language adds to the team-building fun. Congratulations Chantel!

Chap. Eddie Greyfox Burgess came to Lewiston 2000/2001 with Americorps. In that time he responded to the 9-11 terror attacks. He also responded to hate crimes with the red cross on a local level prior to leaving with Americorps to NY. While responding to a possible fire on Ash street he was exposed to his first hate crime towards the local mubahb who established the first mosque in Lewiston.

 Soon after his return from NY, he received word that his brother had completed boot training and ICT along with bomb tech in NJ. So when he returned to Maine and completed his term. He worked in various human services agencies supporting folks with disabilities. While on duty he was contacted in 2004 by the red cross (military caseworkers) to let him know that he was needed in NH. 

Whereas Alan Burgess died as a street patrol resource in Mosul, Iraq working with Allied Forces. He was also a chaplains assistant on the barracks and support there work when not on patrol. Eddie created the Pierce Street Resource Center in his memory. In a later year, he also became a certified Chaplin and completed school with multiple degrees.

 He was a board member of the Visible Community and Many and One coalition which worked on cultural issues. He was the cultural education Director at the YWCA and the Youth Teen Center Specialist at the YMCA. He also supported folks being discharged from various institutions in Maine. As a board member of Karious of Maine, he was able to continue to make sure the training and resources continued in a nondirect way. Until he went to college in 2007 where he then trained with the doctors who operated AMHI in Augusta.

Mary Kozicki LaFontaine, Regional Director of the Southern CareerCenters, has over twenty-five years’ experience in the private and public sectors.   She holds a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point and a Masters in Adult Education from the University of Southern Maine. 

 

In addition, she teaches at USM-LAC, is President of the Central Maine Human Resources Association and the Lewiston Auburn Economic Growth Council and serves on several other civic and business association boards.   She recently served on the LA Metro Chamber of Commerce Board including one term as chair, as an Auburn City Councilor for two terms, and the Auburn School Committee. 

 

 

Holly joined SeniorsPlus in 2016 and is the Chief Operating Officer.  Holly is responsible for providing strategic leadership for the organization’s Community Services programs for Androscoggin, Franklin and Oxford counties and also the state-wide Care Coordination program.  Holly oversees the planning, developing, implementing, operating, and evaluating of these programs and services in accordance with all applicable laws, regulations, and policies and procedures.

 

Holly has over 25 years of experience working with older adults and has held numerous senior management positions in senior living and healthcare in Maine, Florida and Missouri. She has held administrator licenses for both assisted living and skilled nursing facility management.  As the project director for three start-up senior living communities in Florida she oversaw the development, marketing, construction, and fill-up of these independent, assisted, memory care and skill nursing care facilities. Holly has developed several educational workshops on patient advocacy, aging in place and outreach. She is a passionate advocate for community-based programs that enrich the lives of seniors and allow them to remain at home and maintain healthy, independent lives.

 

Holly holds a BA in Business Administration from New Hampshire College.

Al has been a Rotarian since 1998 starting with the Waterville Rotary Club and then transferring to the Farmington Rotary Club. He was Club President in 2008-2009 and served as Assistant Governor in Area 13 and then the Assistant District Governor Coordinator for Maine and served as District 7790 District Governor, 2015-16. Along the way he served on the District Youth Exchange committee for 6 years, 2 years as the District Finance chair and is currently the District Grant Co-Chair.

To know Al well is to know his passion and dedication to family, Rotary and children.

Al and his wife Sue live in Belgrade, Maine but enjoy most of their time at camp on the lake with family and friends. They have been married for 43 years and have two children Chris and Abby, a son-in-law Jeff and their grandchild Chase. You can check out Al’s great sunset pictures on Face Book and you can see for yourself why they enjoy their summer days at the lake.

Al’s passion for Rotary is both global and local. His travels to Rotary Service projects have taken him to such places as Colombia, Guatemala and most recently to Nicaragua. Locally he has been very involved with Farmington Rotary’s 5 Youth Service Clubs which he helped start 14 years ago and is still very active in.

His passion for kids has included 20 years of coaching area youth sports, helping build a ball field in his town and being very active on building committees for local schools and the community recreation center. Sue and Al have hosted Rotary Youth Exchange students and have sponsored a child in the Safe Passage program in Guatemala City for several years along with volunteering and leading teams to volunteer at the Reinforcement Center there many times.

Al was awarded the Maine State Principles Association Dr. Phylliss Deringis Service Award to Maine Youth in 2012 and the District 7790 Rotarian of the Year Award in 2009-2010. Recently Al was chosen by the Rotary BREW Fellowship as their official Ambassador for the State of Maine to represent all things Rotary and the love of Brews Rotarians Enjoy Worldwide.

AL is always very HAPPY to share his Rotary experiences and fellowship with everyone he meets.