LEWISTON – Androscoggin Bank has donated $5,000 to Franklin Memorial Hospital in support of a major expansion and renovation project. The donation represents the fourth of five installments in the bank’s $25,000 pledge to the hospital’s Protecting Our Health capital campaign.

The health care facility launched the fund-raising campaign in 2001, seeking community support for its first major construction project since the building was erected in 1975.

“We are pleased to be able do our share to ensure that residents of the Farmington region can continue to have an up-to-date community hospital and healthcare facility,” said Gary Knight, executive vice president, Androscoggin Bank. “Androscoggin Bank’s philosophy has always been to give back’ and invest in the communities we serve.”

Hospital officials hope the campaign will raise $2 million in community support toward the goal of $12.5 million for the expansion and renovation of the facility. The project includes construction of a state-of-the-art ambulatory surgical center, family-oriented birthing and pediatrics units, a permanent helipad, and a new community health education center, as well as improvements to the outpatient medical clinics and renovations to the surgical suite.

Founded in 1927, Franklin Memorial Hospital is a not-for-profit community general hospital that serves approximately 40,000 people in 23 rural communities in west central Maine.