FARMINGTON – The winners of the Farmington Rotary Club’s $5,000 “Vacation of your Choice” package are Annette and Trent Bachelder of West Farmington.

The couple, who bought the winning ticket from Rotarian Jon Bubier, are newlyweds who married in July and plan to use their vacation travel package, arranged by Farmington Travel, to take a tropical honeymoon on their one-year anniversary.

Bachelder works at International Paper in Jay and Annette works at Mountain Valley Properties at Sugarloaf/USA and recently started her own business, Small Business Cleaning.

In other Rotary news, the Festival of Trees, held on Chester Greenwood Day, Dec. 4, saw a steady stream of visitors all day at the Granary Restaurant, where 16 balsam Christmas trees, donated by Joanne and Walter Gooley, were decorated by area organizations and businesses and were on display all day.

The evening auction of the trees, led by auctioneer Adrian Harris, raised more than $7,600. Combined with the vacation raffle, more than $10,000 was netted on the two fund-raisers, all of which goes back into the community for public service projects.

The New Balance Factory Shoe Outlet in Skowhegan helped the Rotary Club with their World Service Project in December by reducing the price of 50 pairs of high-quality athletic shoes to send to Maine’s 133rd Engineering Battalion in Iraq to distribute to Iraqi children.

In October and November, Rotarians raised more than $500 and sent a box full of soccer balls to Pfc. Joshua Marsella to give out to the children who run to meet their truck convoys as they enter and leave base camp. He has been corresponding with the club and has described the goodwill the soldiers are trying to build with the people.

Also, more than 60 sets of new pajamas and sleepers for children were collected by club members for the Pjs for Kids Project in December. The project was coordinated by the Franklin County Children’s Task Force, pajamas were wrapped by residents of Pierce House, and were distributed through Operation Santa Claus. This is the third year that the club has taken on the project, initiated by Rotarians Janet and Dan Warner, to make sure that on a child’s most special night of the year, they can wait for Santa in a new set of pj’s.

For more information on joining the Rotary, contact club president Buzz Davis at 778-4275.


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