Speakers

Amos S. Eno, president and founder of Land Conservation Assistance Network (LandCAN), has been changing the environmental policy and philosophical landscape for 40 years. He has challenged government, the corporate world and environmental leaders to think differently about environmental policy, conservation vs preservation, development and land use.

 

Simultaneous with founding the Land Conservation Assistance Network (LandCAN) in 2000, Amos was executive director of the New England Forestry Foundation where he engineered the two largest privately held land conservation easements in the United States totalling 1.1 million acres, the Pingree Project and the Downeast Project. For 10 years, he was executive director of the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation; he re-organized NFWF into a regionally managed organization to improve services. He has been director of wildlife programs at the National Audubon Society and editor of the Audubon Wildlife Reports. He served as special assistant in the Office of Endangered Species at the Department of the Interior. He served as assistant to Nathaniel P. Reed, Assistant Secretary of the Interior for Fish, Wildlife and Parks, 1974-1976, working on Alaska lands, endangered species and national wildlife refuges. Cleo Layton was his mentor.

Founder of the Resources First Group, a consulting company, Amos’ past clients included Secretary of the Department of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, Resources Legacy Fund, Nature Conservancy, New England Forestry Foundation and the Louisiana Secretary of Natural Resources.

Joanne Shea Bollinger, a member of Lewiston-Auburn Rotary, is Board President of WISE-Zambia (Women’s Initiatives that Strengthen and Empower) a non-profit “born” in Maine. WISE gained 501(c)(3) status in 2005 with the mission of moving vulnerable women and children in western Zambia toward self-sustaining lives. The NGO works in three areas of community development in the poorest province of Zambia: education, agricultural training and production, and vocational training. Joanne’s most recent trip to the project was May, 2019; it was her 8th visit since 2013, when she first traveled to the country and quickly developed a passion for the project. In the US she focuses on sharing the WISE story, working closely with the US Director, and fundraising around the country. Her passion is WISE’s scholarship program which currently supports 200 secondary students from remote areas who would have no options for school beyond 7th grade, especially young girls at risk of early marriage. As of August 2019, WISE has 19 students enrolled in colleges and nursing schools throughout Zambia. A very special connection has been forged between WISE and the Nkwazi Rotary Club in Lusaka, Zambia’s capital city.

Joanne grew up in Auburn, graduated from ELHS, and enjoyed a career as a music educator and singer throughout New England and in IL.

Bob Stone is a resident of Auburn.  Stone is a former Auburn City Councilor and currently is serving his 2nd six-year term as a Trustee of the Maine Turnpike Authority where he is Vice Chairman of the Board and Chair of the Finance & Audit Committee.  He has served on the Auburn-Lewiston Airport Board of Directors and the Project Committee studying the expansion of passenger rail service to Lewiston and Auburn. Bob is a retired career banker, with over four decades of bank senior management experience.

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.