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AUBURN — Maine Attorney General Janet T. Mills will be the featured speaker, and former Speaker of the House of Representatives Mark W. Eves will be honored at the annual “Fill the Plate Breakfast” to benefit the Meals on Wheels nutrition program at SeniorsPlus, the designated Agency on Aging for Western Maine.
Eves will be honored with the 2017 Ikaria Award by SeniorsPlus at the breakfast, which takes place Friday, March 31, from 7 to 9 a.m. at the Hilton Garden Inn RiverWatch. Tickets are $20 per person ($25 at the door) and are available at www.seniorsplus.orgor by calling 207 795-4010. Seats are limited and advance registration is recommended.
Mills will offer personal and professional recollections of her experiences engaging with older adults. The Attorney General is Maine’s chief law enforcement officer and represents the state in legal matters, ranging from child support enforcement, civil rights and consumer protection to the prosecution of homicides, felony drug cases and major frauds.
Mills was an assistant attorney general from 1976 to 1980, prosecuting homicides and other major crimes. In December 2008, she was elected by the Joint Convention of the Legislature to be Maine’s 55th attorney general, the first woman attorney general in Maine. During a hiatus in office, from 2011 through 2012, Mills taught criminal law at the University of Maine Augusta and served as counsel in the Litigation Group of PretiFlaherty, LLP. In December 2012, Mills was again elected attorney general, and in December 2014 she was re-elected to her second consecutive term.
Eves will be the recipient of the 2017 Ikaria Award, which honors an individual in the community for singular and outstanding contributions toward improving the lives of older adults. As speaker of the house, he was responsible for presiding over all of the actions of the House of Representatives. Under Speaker Eves’ leadership, the legislature passed a bipartisan middle class tax cut, boosted property tax relief for all Maine families, and strengthened investment in Maine children and workers. In the 127th legislature, he served as co-chair of the first ever Caucus on Aging, pushing an agenda to support Maine seniors to live independently in their homes and communities.
“Mark Eves worked to put the health and well-being of Maine’s older adults in the forefront of the legislative agenda and brought on results we are still seeing,” said Betsy Sawyer-Manter, president and CEO of SeniorsPlus. “We are thrilled to honor his years of dedication and hard work with the Ikaria Award.” Ikaria is a Greek island in the Aegean Sea, considered one of the world’s five “Blue Zones” –places where an estimated one in three members of the population regularly lives an active life into their 90s.
The “Fill the Plate Breakfast” is presented in conjunction with March for Meals, a national campaign of the Meals on Wheels Association of America.
Last year, SeniorsPlus delivered 108,000 meals to more than 750 homebound older adults and adults with disabilities in Androscoggin, Franklin and Oxford counties through its Meals on Wheels program. Almost 600 volunteers donate more than 28,000 hours to the program annually. Each meal provides one third of the recommended daily allowance of nutrition, a safety check, and a visit to these vulnerable adults. The majority of the consumers of Meals on Wheels are lower income or on fixed income.
“The breakfast will be nutritious and informative, with programming that brings to light the work being done in Maine to support our older adults,” said Sawyer-Manter. “We seek funding through this breakfast to avoid waiting lists and to help fund the program.” Currently, the wait list for the Meals on Wheels program at SeniorsPlus has 57 individuals on it.
The overall program goal of SeniorsPlus is to assist older adults and adults with disabilities in our tri-county area to remain at home safely for as long as possible. The overwhelming majority of older adults (greater than 95% in an AARP survey) wish to remain at home until they die. The Meals on Wheels program provides nourishment, socialization and regular safety checks. “Meals on Wheels can make the difference between remaining at home or being placed in a nursing care facility,” added Ms. Sawyer-Manter.
The mission of SeniorsPlus is “to enrich the lives of seniors and adults with disabilities.” SeniorsPlus believes in supporting the independence, dignity, and quality of life of those it serves. Established in 1972, SeniorsPlus covers Androscoggin, Franklin, and Oxford counties and serves more than 12,000 individuals annually. The agency focuses on older adults, adults with disabilities, and families and offers a network of support, including information and assistance, short-term care management, Medicare counseling, caregiver support and respite, health and wellness education, Options Counseling, and Meals on Wheels and congregate dining.
PHOTO: Janet T. Mills
