Long time community member, Dick Kendall, is calling it a day.  After three, 3 year terms as a member of the Maine Community Foundation’s Androscoggin County Committee (www.mainecf.org), he is stepping aside to let others take their turn at managing a fund that he holds dear to his heart.

The Maine Community Foundation is built on the concept of people helping other people to improve the quality of life in Maine. In 1986, MCF created County programs to ensure that every Maine community has a permanent fund as a source of charitable capital, raised and allocated by local people, to address community challenges.

As one of the founding members the Androscoggin County committee in 2001, Kendall served as its chair person from 2002-2005.  Current board chair Bill Hiss says Kendall’s legacy will live on for many years.  “He has recruited many of the members of the Androscoggin County Committee, raised a good deal of the funds that have become the permanent endowment, and has helped bring a focus to the philanthropic impulses of Androscoggin County.”

Kendall has deep roots in Androscoggin County.  After serving in WWII, he returned to Maine, married his high school sweetheart, Mary Briggs, and began his career at Bates Manufacturing in Lewiston. In 1964 Kendall started Veribest Systems, providing accounting systems and computer services to small business. Over the years, his company, his family, and his community involvement grew. His company expanded to $5 million in sales with offices throughout the country. He and his wife Mary raised eight sons at their home in Auburn, and his community involvement and leadership extended over multiple organizations throughout Androscoggin County.

Kendall has been recognized as Auburn’s Citizen of the Year from the Auburn Business Association (1986) and has been honored by the United Way, YMCA, Androscoggin County Chamber of Commerce and the City of Lewiston as “Volunteer of the Year (2006).

According to Bill Hiss, Kendall’s vast professional and volunteer resume paid great dividends for the Androscoggin County Fund. “Dick’s work brought MCF onto the radar screen of people in Androscoggin County, and helped to establish long-term confidence among our local non-profits that there would be some sources of funds for new ideas.”

Kendall says his time on the MCF Androscoggin County Committee was very gratifying and that he enjoyed being a part of the fund’s growth.  Of Kendall, Hiss said, “with his many efforts, he has simply made us a much stronger and more humane, concerned community.”

“The work that Lots to Gardens has done over the last 10 years has been exemplary,” said Bill Hiss, chair of the Androscoggin County Committee.  “They build social capital by bringing together people of all ages and from different ethnic, cultural, and socioeconomic backgrounds to grow food, learn about healthy recipes and ways of cooking, promote leadership, and conduct community service.”

Lots to Gardens, a program of St. Mary’s Health System, uses sustainable urban gardens to create access to fresh food, empower youth, and build community in Lewiston.  Through their work, they raise community awareness about local food systems and work with youth to create solutions to address food insecurity.  To learn more, visit www.lotstogardens.org

The Androscoggin County Fund was launched in 1999 with a matching gift from Androscoggin Savings Bank. Since that time, the Androscoggin County Committee has awarded more than $241,000 in grants to county nonprofits. The committee is made up of local community leaders who partner with the foundation to build charitable resources to serve the region.  For more information, visit www.mainecf.org or call (877) 780-6800.

Bill Hiss presents a check for $6,000 to Kirsten Walter, Nutrition Center Director for St. Mary’s Health System, at the November 12th meeting of the Androscoggin County Chamber of Commerce.

Pictured (left to right) are Rebecca Webber, MaineCF Androscoggin County committee member; Diane Marquis-Monahan, St. Mary’s Health System;  Kirsten Walter; Mr. Hiss; and Jane Morrison and Candace Sanborn, MaineCF Androscoggin County committee members.