The 2023 Lasting Legacy Award recognizes and celebrates the sustained leadership of people whose commitment, ideals, and actions throughout their careers have brought about lasting and positive change to the lives of older Mainers. Two individuals are honored this year, Peggy Haynes of Freeport and Leo Delicata of Portland.

For over two decades, Margaret “Peggy” Haynes, MPA, has consistently brought evidence-based programs and practices that support healthy aging to Maine. Her work as the MaineHealth Director of Elder Care Services centered around safeguarding the independence of older adults, with a significant emphasis on fall prevention. Peggy’s dedication to enhancing care extended to areas such as care transitions, chronic care management, and reducing hospital readmissions. She has been a trailblazer in promoting end-of-life care that respects older adults’ wishes through advance care planning and serious illness conversation training. Her pioneering spirit and unwavering dedication have helped shape a more holistic approach to the care of older adults, transcending geographical boundaries.

Leo Delicata spent over 30 years in Maine advocating for public policy that supports healthy and secure aging, and creates equitable and just systems for vulnerable older people. A staff member at Legal Services for the Elderly, he lent his legal expertise on a broad range of topics, including real estate, taxes, health care, and the courts, and helped shape current laws providing protection from elder abuse and financial exploitation, and pathways to justice for those impacted. Through his knowledge, passion and compassion, Leo served as a mentor to many, including new lobbyists and legislators, and was the reliable source of knowledge on legislation impacting older Mainers for everyone under the dome.

The 2023 Legislator of the Year Award recognizes and celebrates the sustained efforts of legislative leaders who actively champion legislative initiatives that improve the health, safety, and economic security of older Mainers and/or increase and improve access to quality aging services.

This year’s recipient is Representative Michele Meyer of Eliot Maine. Throughout her tenure in the Legislature, Representative Meyer has worked tirelessly to increase access older Mainers have to the supports and services they need, including Meals on Wheels and caregiver supports. Over the years, she has championed successful efforts to increase wages for direct care workers and to increase eligibility for the Medicare Savings Program, a program that puts money in the pockets of older, lower income people. She is collaborative and tenacious, and works incredibly hard, often behind the scenes, always reaching across the aisle, to ensure critically important bills are funded and enacted. She is a quiet leader who steps up for older Mainers, gets a lot done, and continues to ask what’s next. She has earned our deep respect and gratitude.

The 2023 Trailblazing Advocate Award recognizes and celebrates the sustained contributions of trailblazers whose passion, actions, and advocacy have made Maine a better place for us all to age with dignity, health, purpose, and security.

This year’s award goes to Dr. Clifford Singer, of Orono and Bangor. As Chief of the Center for Geriatric Cognitive and Mental Health at Northern Light Acadia Hospital and Research Professor at the University of Maine, Cliff is recognized for his sustained work to ensure older Mainers living with cognitive disorders can gain access to timely diagnosis, and expert care. Throughout his career, he has focused on collaborative education, family support and clinical care for people living with dementia. He has worked to bring more funding for research and treatment, and inspired health care professionals to provide dignified and effective care for people living with dementia. In recent years, he has built a research program to help find new treatments, and ultimately a cure, and is working to make Maine a center for excellence when it comes to dementia care.

The Douglas O. Wilson Rising Tide Leadership Award, awarded in partnership with Southern Maine Agency on Aging and Community Health Options, recognizes and celebrates the sustained efforts of people who lift and inspire others to implement innovative solutions to challenges faced by older Mainers through collaborative partnerships, shared leadership and/or community building initiatives.

This year’s recipient is Dr. Patricia Oh of Bowdoinham. From her leadership of Maine’s first designated age-friendly community, Bowdoinham, to her current work at the University of Maine Center on Aging, Patricia has inspired everyday people to volunteer to build communities that work for a lifetime. From volunteer food and driver programs to dementia-friendly initiatives and shared housing, Patricia helps others develop the skills needed to implement programs that make a community truly “lifelong.” She is the driving force behind the Lifelong Communities Fellows Program, an effort that places established community leaders with developing communities. Her efforts are quietly ensuring that thousands of older Mainers can live healthy, engaged, and secure lives in their homes and communities.

The 2023 Business Excellence Award recognizes and celebrates the sustained efforts of Maine employers that implement strategic practices and policies that value and sustain the contributions of older workers, support family caregivers, and/or create environments that meet the needs of older people, people living with dementia, and family caregivers.

This year’s honoree is Hannaford Supermarkets. Hannaford maintains a sustained commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion that includes age-diversity, and their leaders are intentionally building a workplace culture that supports a multi-generational workforce and considers the flexibility needs of older and younger workers alike. They intentionally include age-diversity in their list of priority organizations for sponsorships and grants, putting them in the tiny minority of funders who do so. Finally, early in the pandemic, Hannaford led the way in ensuring older people could access the food they needed by offering dedicated shopping hours for people aged 60 and older and those with compromised immune systems

The 2022 Lasting Legacy Award recognizes and celebrates an individual’s sustained leadership whose commitment, ideals, and actions throughout their career have brought about lasting and positive change to the lives of older Mainers. This year the MCOA recognized two Lasting Legacy Awardees, Jo Cooper & Susan Lavigne.

Jo Cooper is an indomitable force for good who brought grass roots organizing and advocacy into her community with inspiring results. Jo founded Friends in Action in 2003 to bring volunteer-based transportation services to thousands of folks across Hancock County. Until she retired two decades later, Jo worked tirelessly to maintain and grow these services and to reduce transportation barriers for older people and people living with disabilities. Jo views life as one vast opportunity to foster connection and caring with those around her, which is why she was so successful at motivating others to provide rides and help their neighbors. Having developed considerable expertise delivering volunteer transportation, recruiting volunteers, and engaging stakeholders, Jo eagerly helped others develop similar programs in their areas, including the very successful Neighbors Driving Neighbors. Nearly immediately after retiring, Jo became a consultant with the MCOA to lead our Transportation Equity for Older Mainers initiative, demonstrating her lasting pursuit of transportation services for older Mainers. Because Jo has consistently demonstrated her passion and commitment to having a positive impact on the lives of older Mainers, the MCOA proudly presented her with a 2022 Lasting Legacy Award.

The giving spirit of Susan Lavigne truly knows no bounds. For 35 years, so many benefited from her compassionate and energetic leadership of the Foster Grandparent and Senior Companion programs hosted by the Opportunity Alliance and were guided by her galvanizing voice in the national and local arenas of AmeriCorps Seniors. Susan’s passion for the work was infectious and inspired so many to join forces with her to ensure older Mainers received services centered on caring and connection. Refusing to be thwarted even by a global pandemic, Susan transformed a barrier into a breakthrough when she devised a plan to infuse her volunteer programs with tech-savvy approaches to keep program participants well-connected despite lock-downs and distance. She coordinated with the National Digital Equity Center to get tablets into the hands of her volunteer teams and built educational offerings on utilizing technology for connectivity. As Susan has consistently demonstrated her passion and commitment to having a positive impact on the lives of older Mainers, the MCOA proudly to presented her with a 2022 Lasting Legacy Award.

The 2022 MCOA Legislator of the Year Award recognizes and celebrates the sustained efforts of a legislative leader who consistently works collaboratively with communities, institutions, governments, and businesses to develop and implement solutions that have improved the health and safety of older Mainers.

Senate President Troy Jackson has consistently demonstrated an unflinching resolve in pursuit of access to necessary supports and services for older Mainers. He is well known for his humanitarian values, earnest engagement across party lines, and dogged determination to champion those who need a voice. We recognize Senator Jackson for his collaborative and sustained leadership role in addressing Maine’s severe and persistent direct care workforce shortage. In 2017 he sought the creation of the Commission to Study Maine’s Long Term Care Workforce Issues, and has since worked tirelessly to ensure funding was dedicated to implementing the Commission recommendations. As former MCOA Board Member Rick Erb reflects, “In my years with the Maine Health Care Association I saw time and again the thoughtful approach that Senate President Troy Jackson brought to leadership in Augusta. The staff who work as caregivers in long term care facilities could not ask for a stauncher supporter of all that they do.” Because of these sustained efforts and so many other initiatives he championed on behalf of older Mainers, including affordable housing and Meals on Wheels, the MCOA recognized Senate President Troy Jackson as the 2022 Legislator of the Year.

The 2022 MCOA Trailblazing Advocate Award recognizes and celebrates the contributions of trailblazers who utilize ingenuity through actions and/or advocacy in incredible and innovative ways to make Maine a safer place for us all to age with dignity, health, purpose, and security.

Driven by a deep belief in social justice, an unwillingness to accept an unjust status quo, and a clarity of the path to social change, Patricia F. Kimball is the model of a quiet yet powerful trailblazing advocate. At the helm of the Elder Abuse Institute of Maine, Patty is pioneering innovative new responses to elder abuse and tearing down barriers to help. In 2018, she partnered with Adult Protective Services (APS) to lead a highly successful 3 year research project that launched a comprehensive client-directed service delivery initiative based on the RISE Model. In 2019, she sought and received a Robert Wood Johnson Interdisciplinary Research Leadership grant which allowed her to collaborate with research partners to mitigate challenges to mandatory reporting of elder abuse to APS. In response to what she learned, she collaborated on the creation and launch in 2021 of A Helping Voice, a free, confidential hotline for mandated reporters who are uncertain about whether they should report. In 2021, she joined the design team that created the MCOA’s Leadership Exchange on Ageism and was one of three talented facilitators for the first two cohorts of the Exchange. Patty’s success lies within her capacity for and role-modeling of respect. She lifts up all those around her, brings innovation and passion for change to the forefront, and makes a critical difference for those in need. For all of these reasons, the MCOA awarded the 2022 Trailblazing Advocate Award to Patricia Kimball.

The 2022 MCOA Business Excellence Award recognizes and celebrates the continued efforts of Maine businesses that implement strategic practices, policies, and priorities that value and sustain the contributions of older workers, support family caregivers, and/or create environments that meet the needs of older people, people living with dementia, and family caregivers.

For over 100 years, L.L.Bean has been one of Maine’s best treasures. It is a world-class business that sees leveraging the power of older workers and creating multi-generational work teams as an important competitive workforce strategy. Because they fully embrace this, it was easy for them to partner with the MCOA for the better part of the last decade trying to inspire businesses and business leaders to follow suit. When the Speaker’s Roundtable Discussion on Aging was held in 2013, L.L.Bean was at that table. When Maine’s Aging Initiative identified supporting a diverse workforce in a rapidly-aging state as a priority, L.L.Bean’s HR Director, Wendy Estabrook served as co-chair of the Workplace & Employment Workgroup. There she provided leadership and a resolute voice in advocating for older workers. From speaking at the Legislative Caucus on Aging to presenting at the Gray is the New Green Summit in New Hampshire, Wendy has always been ready to speak in support of older workers as a critical component to any workforce. In 2022, L.L.Bean hosted a training on ageism for all of their HR staff, and supported the participation of two L.L.Bean leaders in the Leadership Exchange on Ageism – a 14 hour commitment. The MCOA honored L.L.Bean with the 2022 Business Excellence Award because it has consistently embraced the value and contributions of older workers and is taking an active role in ending ageism in their workplace.

The Southern Maine Agency on Aging, in partnership with the Maine Council on Aging and Community Health Options, has established the Doug Wilson Rising Tide Leadership Award in honor of their mutual friend, Doug Wilson who died unexpectedly in August 2022. The award, presented this year to his wife, Mary Ellen Wilson, will recognize and celebrate the sustained efforts of people who lift and inspire others to implement innovative solutions to challenges faced by older Mainers through collaborative partnerships, shared leadership, and/or community building initiatives.

The 2021 Lasting Legacy Award that recognizes and celebrates the sustained leadership of people whose commitment, ideals, and actions throughout their careers have brought about lasting and positive change to the lives of older Mainers is awarded to Rick Erb, for his sustained leadership of the Maine Health Care Association and his unwavering commitment to the creation, growth, and operation of the Maine Council on Aging.

The 2021 Business Excellence Award that recognizes and celebrates the sustained efforts of Maine businesses that implement strategic practices, policies and priorities that value and sustain the contributions of older workers, support family caregivers, and/or create environments that meet the needs of older people, people living with dementia, and family caregivers, is awarded to the Maine Health Access Foundation for their immediate and continuous action to meet the emerging and on-going needs of older Mainers during the COVID-19 crisis, and for their sustained efforts to implement strategic funding priorities that are intended to ensure older Mainers have meaningful access to supports and services that maintain health and quality of life.

The MCOA’s Lasting Legacy Award recognizes and celebrates the sustained leadership of people whose commitment, ideals, and actions throughout their careers have brought about lasting and positive change to the lives of older Mainers.

Don Harden has been a devoted and tenacious advocate for more than 40 years as a leader with Catholic Charities Maine. After serving in the Army, he earned his Masters Degree and embarked on a career-long journey to improve the lives of Mainers. Serving first in the child care sector, Don became the Director of what is now known as Support and Recovery Services.  In 2005, Don expanded his role to take on multiple programs serving older people, including Independent Support Services, known as the Homemaker Program, growing it quickly into a statewide program that helps older Mainers age well at home. Knowing this is what older Mainers want, Don tirelessly advocated for quality home and community services, and for workers, mostly women, who do this work. He has not been deterred by staffing shortages and budget cuts, nor given up in the face of incremental gains, of which there have been many. Don is an icon in the human services world, a true collaborator who brings a quiet confidence to his advocacy that makes legislators want to listen. One peer wrote, “Don is the EF Hutton of aging; when he talks, we all listen to his sage wisdom.”  He is generous with his time to help others learn and values the strength of many voices.  Don is a founding member of the MCOA and serves on the Board of Directors. For his unfailing pursuit of quality services for older Mainers and living wages for direct care workers, and his mentorship of others working in aging services, the Maine Council on Aging is proud to present Don with the 2020 Lasting Legacy Award.

Representative Chloe Maxmin may be a new face in the Maine legislature, but she is already a strong voice for Maine’s older adults. As soon as the COVID-19 pandemic hit, she enlisted more than 200 volunteers to contact and triage the needs of more than 3,000 older residents living in her district. The more than 12,000 calls made by Chloe and her volunteers resulted in groceries and prescriptions being delivered, rides to doctor appointments being arranged, and masks and social support being made available. One of the volunteers involved said that Chloe is the type of person we need in office, “one who has the compassion and empathy to reach out to her constituents.” Aside from her immediate and impressive response to the COVID-19 pandemic, she also sponsored a key bill regarding transportation for older people in the legislature, and has continued to make older people a primary focus of her work as a lawmaker. The Maine Council on Aging is proud to honor Representative Maxmin as the 2020 Legislator of the Year.

The 2020 MCOA Trailblazing Award recognizes and celebrates the contributions of community members who, in the face of COVID-19, have responded through actions and/or advocacy in incredible and innovative ways  to make Maine a safer place for us all to age with dignity, health, purpose and security.  This year’s Trailblazing Award honors two recipients.

 Surrey Hardcastle has an impressive reputation as a champion for older people. For four years, she has been the chair of the Food Team of Harpswell Aging at Home, a grassroots volunteer organization that helps make Harpswell a community for a lifetime. When COVID-19 hit, Surrey had been leading the Lunch With Friends (LWF) Program, a wildly successful free weekly lunch program that serves thousands of volunteer cooked meals each year. Undeterred by the threat of COVID, she and her team, following all CDC coronavirus protocols for sanitizing, re-packing, and delivering, quickly shifted gears to a take-out lunch format called Meals-To-Go. Every Tuesday from mid-March through the end of June, volunteers prepared hundreds of meals that were dropped off at a central location and then picked up by LWF regulars or distributed to homebound people. During this time, Surrey and 100 volunteers prepared and distributed 5,555 meals to 2,208 people, remarkable in a town of 5000. Her work inspired volunteers to buy lobsters, not only to help local fisherman, but also to make lobster mac ‘n cheese lunches! Her innovative thinking and warm enthusiasm was the catalyst for a town-wide effort that benefited hundreds of families, both those receiving the food and those volunteering their time, skill and resources.  Because of her immediate and inspiring response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Maine Council on Aging is honored to present Surrey with the 2020 Trailblazing Award.

Lynn Steed is a member of Age Friendly Saco and a volunteer with the Saco Food Pantry. When COVID hit and many older people did not feel comfortable going out to get groceries, Lynn developed a network of volunteers to deliver food. She went to the pantry many times to fulfill food requests for others, and was able to serve hundreds of older people seeking food assistance from a pantry for the first time. Not content to serve just those in her own community, Lynn reached out to serve the needs of older people in neighboring communities as well, often involving the local police department to assist in a food delivery for a family in need. Because Lynn worked tirelessly to address increased food insecurity brought on by the pandemic, the Maine Council on Aging is honored to present her with the 2020 Trailblazing Award.

The Green Ladle is a restaurant that offers a well-rounded culinary education to juniors and seniors from high schools in the Lewiston area. In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, students and instructors opted to utilize the tips they’d been saving as a group to provide meals for 500 older adults, veterans, and first responders rather than to provide themselves with a senior trip. Students prepared the meals and organized volunteers to deliver it, with local restaurants donating the food. Because of their generosity, the Maine Council on Aging is honored to present The Green Ladle with the 2020 Business Excellence Award.