Peoples Sponsers Chewonki's Popular Traveling Natural History Program in Maine Schools

Sponsorship will help bring well-known educational program to even more schoolchildren across the state

Peoples Heritage Bank will sponsor the Chewonki Foundation's popular Traveling Natural History Program, ensuring that even more Maine schoolchildren are exposed to a hands-on educational experience that features wildlife and nature, bank officials announced Tuesday.

For nearly two decades, Chewonki teachers have crisscrossed the state, bringing lizards, turtles, bats, eagles, owls and other non-releasable wild animals into classrooms to help open the eyes of children to the natural world around them. Each year, Chewonki reaches about 30,000 young Mainers through hour-long presentations offered in schools, libraries and community centers.

Peoples' lead sponsorship will help Chewonki defray the cost of the well-known program and expand by offering scholarships to budget-strapped public schools that in the past could not afford even the nominal $100 fee for the classroom program.

"The financial support of Peoples Heritage Bank will allow Chewonki to continue to expand upon its mission of introducing Maine's public schoolchildren to the wonders of biodiversity and the world around them through direct contact with nature," said Don Hudson, president of the Chewonki Foundation, a non-profit educational organization located in Wiscasset. "We couldn't be happier that Peoples has joined us on this mission."

Michael W. McNamara, president and CEO of Peoples Heritage Bank, a Maine-based bank with more than 60 branches statewide, said the collaboration with Chewonki fits the bank's aim of providing assistance to young people in Maine.

"We enthusiastically welcome the opportunity to work closely with such a respected organization as Chewonki on a program that is so worthwhile for Maine children," McNamara said.

Chewonki's Traveling Natural History Programs are well loved and rarely forgotten by the children, teachers and parents who see them. In contrast to many programs that discourage children from touching and handling specimens, Chewonki teachers promote a hands-on experience. Their programs include everything from paws, talons, teeth and beaks to whale vertebrae that are safe for even the youngest students.

The presenters undergo extensive training at Chewonki, and are charged with caring for and teaching about resident wild animals as well as working to rehabilitate injured wildlife brought to Chewonki by the local community.

Chewonki's two outreach program vehicles last year traveled 40,000 miles to 150 schools, libraries and community centers across Maine.

Other Peoples' programs benefiting children include $25,000 in scholarships awarded annually to 10 Maine high school seniors, lead sponsorship of the annual Peoples Beach to Beacon 10K Road Race in which a different children's charity receives a cash donation from the bank, and charitable giving to numerous organizations providing support to children, including the Boys & Girls Clubs, Big Brothers Big Sisters and March of Dimes.

Peoples and it's parent company, Banknorth Group, Inc., employ more than 2,500 in the state. For more information, log on to the bank's web site at www.peoplesheritage.com

The Chewonki Foundation, located at 485 Chewonki Neck Road in Wiscasset, offers natural science and environmental education programs throughout the year. All programs help individuals develop their personal potential, gain a working sense of participation in a community of peers, and develop sensitivity and stewardship for the natural world. The Foundation offers a summer camp program; wilderness trips for teenagers and adults; residential, school-year environmental education programs; traveling lessons in natural science to schools throughout northern New England; and a semester program of academic study for 11th grade students. For more information, visit Chewonki online at www.chewonki.org.

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