AUBURN – New Beginnings of Lewiston hosted its annual meeting on Nov. 20 at the Munroe Inn. President Tina Laplante welcomed guests to the event, which included a public meeting and a dinner for staff and board members.

The evening began with the recognition of some of the nonprofit’s staff members. Walter Jackson, Dan Barker, Matt Kapley, Bob Rowe and Michael Child were awarded certificates of appreciation for their years worked at New Beginnings.

The board met after dinner and officers were elected. Re-elected for a second term were Laplante, president; Ed Rabasco, vice president; and Mike Lanois, treasurer. Valerie Mulkey of Auburn was elected to her first term as secretary.

Laplante has been a member of the board since 1998. She has served as chairwoman of the Personnel Committee, chairwoman of the Finance Committee and as treasurer of the board for two years.

Laplante lives in Auburn and is a controller at International Paper in Auburn. She is a board member of the American Red Cross, treasurer of the Central Maine Human Resources Association and a native of the Lewiston/Auburn area.

Rabasco, Dawn Havener and George Reynolds were re-elected for three year terms. Omar Ahmed, Robin Lacasse and Christa Lagrange were elected as new members of the board. Jean Paquette, Lorna Healy and David Dubord were re-elected as advisers. The board accepted the resignations of Lillian Kennedy and Heather Hern.

Don Hornblower and Ed Rabasco, co-chairmen of this year’s annual fund-raising campaign, announced a goal of $20,000. Both, practicing attorneys in Lewiston, urged staff and board members to make this the best year yet.

“The critical needs of the homeless youth that New Beginnings serves makes it more important than ever to raise this amount of money,” Hornblower said.

New Beginnings serves more than 700 youth each year who are homeless or at risk of becoming homeless. It operates the only emergency shelter for youth in the region, as well as the transitional living program for older youth, outreach program services in Lewiston and Farmington and HIV prevention education for youth in all of its programs.