LEWISTON — SeniorsPlus will hold a breakfast to benefit its Meals on Wheels nutrition program on Friday, March 31.

The Fill the Plate Breakfast will be held from 7 to 9 a.m. at the Hilton Garden Inn Riverwatch in Auburn. The breakfast will honor former Speaker of the Maine House of Rep. Mark W. Eves with the Ikaria Award. It will also feature a talk by Maine Attorney General Janet Mills.

Eves will be the recipient of the 2017 Ikaria Award, which honors an individual in the community for singular and outstanding contributions toward improving the lives of older adults. As Speaker of the House, he was responsible for presiding over all of the actions of the House of Representatives. Under Speaker Eves’ leadership, the Legislature passed a bipartisan middle-class tax cut, boosted property tax relief for all Maine families, and strengthened investment in Maine children and workers. In the 127th Legislature he served as co-chair of the first Caucus on Aging, pushing an agenda to support Maine seniors to live independently in their homes and communities.

“Mark Eves worked hard to put the welfare of Maine’s older adults in the forefront of the legislative agenda and brought on results we are still seeing,” said Betsy Sawyer-Manter, president and CEO of SeniorsPlus. “We are thrilled to honor his years of dedication and hard work with the Ikaria Award.”

Mills will offer personal and professional recollections of her experiences engaging with older adults. The attorney general is Maine’s chief law enforcement officer and represents the state in legal matters ranging from child support enforcement, civil rights and consumer protection to the prosecution of homicides, felony drug cases and major frauds. Mills was an assistant attorney general from 1976 to 1980, prosecuting homicides and other major crimes. In December 2008, she was elected by the Joint Convention of the Legislature to be Maine’s 55th attorney general, the first woman attorney general in Maine. During a hiatus in office, from 2011 through 2012, Mills taught criminal law at the University of Maine at Augusta and served of counsel in the litigation group of Preti Flaherty, LLP. In December 2012, Mills was again elected attorney general, and in December 2014, she was re-elected to her second consecutive term.

The Fill the Plate Breakfast is presented in conjunction with March for Meals, a national campaign of the Meals on Wheels Association of America.

Last year, SeniorsPlus delivered 108,000 meals to more than 750 homebound older adults and adults with disabilities in Androscoggin, Franklin and Oxford counties through its Meals on Wheels program. Almost 600 volunteers donate more than 28,000 hours to the program annually. 

“The breakfast will be nutritious and informative, as the programming is designed to bring to light the work being done in Maine to support our older adults,” said Sawyer-Manter. “We seek funding through this breakfast to avoid waiting lists and to help fund the program.”

Currently, the waitlist for the Meals on Wheels program at SeniorsPlus has 50 individuals on it.

The overall program goal of SeniorsPlus is to assist older adults and adults with disabilities in our tri-county area to remain at home safely for as long as possible. 

SeniorsPlus is grateful for the support of the sponsors of the Fill the Plate Breakfast: AARP Maine, Bangor Savings Bank, Bedard Pharmacy, Berman & Simmons, Cabot Creamery, Gleason Media Services, Hilton Garden Inn Auburn Riverwatch, Lee Auto, Maine Gourmet Chocolates, Mechanics Savings Bank, Northeast Bank, North Country Associates, Pine Tree Waste, St. Mary’s Regional Medical Center, Sun Media Group and Woodlands Senior Living of Lewiston.

Tickets are $20 per person and will be sold for $25 at the door as long as seats remain available. Seats are limited and advance registration is recommended.

FMI, tickets: 207 795-4010, www.seniorsplus.org. 

Mark W. Eves

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