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Representatives from more than 30 Maine charities gathered on the steps of Portland Maine’s City Hall to be part of a press conference where the results of Hannaford’s Lighthouses on Parade were announced.

The distribution of the checks was the cumulative effort of a year-long Community Arts Program in southern Maine where nearly 70 ten-foot-tall highly decorated lighthouses were displayed by various business firms. The businesses that joined the program had to buy the lighthouse and then hire an artist to paint and decorate them. The lighthouses were then put in display at over 60 locations for the people to enjoy and visit over the summer months. At the end of the summer they were put up for auction.

The project’s founding charities - Maine Center on Deafness, The Senator George J. Mitchell Scholarship Research Institute and Cancer Community Center received an equal split of 50% of the proceeds. The remaining 50% was allocated by the winning bidders to 30 charities. Among those were the Portland Red Cross, American Cancer Society of Maine, and the Barbara Bush Children’s Hospital.

Lighthouse Depot was the sponsor of one of the lighthouses, which was named Undercover Lighthouse and was designed and completed by Lighthouse Depot employees under the direction of Assistant Store Manager Joan Prentice.

The American Lighthouse Foundation also had one of the ten-foot-tall lighthouses that was sponsored and paid for Shipyard Brewing Co. of Maine and LITEHOUSE Foods, makers of salad dressings and dips that are available nationwide. At the auction Shipyard Brewing purchased the American Lighthouse Foundation lighthouse and donated it back to the foundation.

At the press conference, Bruce Forsley, Director of Marketing for Shipyard Brewing, made a surprise presentation of $1,500.00 to the three founding charities. Forsley stated that the extra donation was Shipyard Brewing’s way of showing its continuing support of the founding charities and the wonderful results created by a community program as was done by Lighthouses on Parade.

The Hannaford Lighthouses on Parade was conceived by Out Front Productions, a Rochester, New York firm that produces and develops community arts projects throughout the United States, which cultivates the arts while increasing local business, which at the same time raises money for charities.

This story appeared in the December 2003 edition of Lighthouse Digest Magazine. For subscription information about the print edition, click here.

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