Celebrating the best of 2023

PLC Community Service Award: In 2015, to celebrate the 20 years of the PLC and its commitment to giving back to the State of Maine, the PLC started a new tradition by presenting a Community Service Award. This award is given annually to a PLC member, Supporting Member or affiliated organization that has demonstrated a significant commitment to giving back to their community. Members of our industry in the State of Maine are notorious for their significant generosity in giving back to their local communities. Examples of this are everywhere, but often the people and organizations doing the best work don’t seek the limelight or credit for it Consistent with this theme, the 2023 winner is Mike Conway of Barry Equipment Co.

This award is long overdue. As most PLC Members and Supporting Members know, Mike has been handling sales for Barry Equipment – a valued PLC Preferred Supporting Member - in Maine, New Hampshire and Massachusetts for more than a decade, and he is very good at his job, but that is not why we have chosen him for this award.

Anyone who knows Mike understands he really cares about helping good causes, and thanks to his connection with the PLC and the generous people at Barry Equipment, he has been a big part of PLC’s Log A Load for Maine Kids annual fund drive for many years.

Mike can always be relied on to step up whenever we need him for Log A Load. We have lost count of how many trips and gifts he has purchased over the years at the Log A Load Live Auction, only to donate them back to the Children’s Miracle Network families. From Red Sox games to fishing trips, these donations have brought smiles to the faces of many families and children facing tough challenges. Mike has never asked for any recognition for these gifts, and that’s why we felt it was about time he got some.

Mike’s wife Angela tells us he would never miss a

Log A Load event and has told her over and over again how wonderful the Log A Load Auction is and how special the people attending are, and about the good work Log A Load does for the kids and how proud he is to be able to attend.

Mike’s generosity and desire to help is not a once-a -year thing. Angela said of him, “He is the guy that buys dinner for the veteran in the restaurant anonymously or buys dinner anonymously for the mom and child sitting alone eating dinner. He is the guy who buys the 10+ pizzas for the JV football team (whose kids have never even met him). He is the guy who pulls over on the side of the road and changes the tire for the stranded lady on the side of the road. Or the guy who gives back to the kids who need the week away at camp or the tickets to the baseball game all just to put a smile on a kid’s face. Nothing gives him more joy than making someone else smile. Despite his tough exterior he has a huge heart of gold. He will take his shirt off his own back for anyone in need.”

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Thanks to Mike’s close involvement with the PLC, Barry Equipment is also a major supporter of events and efforts the organization undertakes, including sponsoring all lunches for PLC Safety Trainings.

Thank you, Mike, for all you do in support of your community and the the PLC’s charitable efforts. The PLC is proud to have Barry Equipment as a Preferred Supporting Member, and both they and the PLC are fortunate to have you as a friend and partner. It is with great pleasure that the PLC presents the 2022 Community Service Award to Mike Conway.

PLC Supporting Member of the Year Award: The PLC Supporting Member of the Year Award is presented annually to a PLC Supporting Member who has demonstrated an unprecedented commitment to the organization as well as PLC contractors here in Maine. The 2023 winner is PLC Preferred Supporting Member Chalmers Insurance Group.

Chalmers Insurance Group is a fourth-generation family-owned and operated business founded in 1857, proudly serving businesses and individuals from eight offices throughout Maine and New Hampshire. The fourth generation of the Chalmers family took the reins of the company in January 2018 when Bruce and Bill Chalmers transferred ownership of the Chalmers Insurance Group to cousins Jim Chalmers and Dottie Chalmers Cutter, who joined President Stephen P. Cote in leading the agency. This fourth generation is currently putting their own mark on the agency and taking the business to new heights.

With its roots deep in Western Maine in a region with a strong logging tradition, Chalmers has been offering coverage to loggers for many years and has developed a strong relationship with many PLC Members who were clients of Chalmers or who became clients after the company acquired the Lovejoy Agency Parsonfield office in 2007.

PLC Member R.C. McLucas of Porter is a client of Chalmers and speaks highly of the agency. "They're also family-owned, and they've treated us accordingly, like family and friends," said Gayla McLucas. "They're also very savvy about all aspects of insurance - business and personal."

Chalmers joined the PLC as a Preferred Supporting Member several years ago and immediately became a company we could count on to be a strong supporter of all our efforts on behalf of Maine loggers as well as PLC’s Annual Log A Load for Maine Kids events and PLC’s Annual Logger and Fleet Safety Trainings. The company recognizes that the work the PLC does to improve safety can lower insurance claims and costs for Maine loggers and has sponsored the trainings each year since joining.

Chalmers is also a major supporter of PLC’s Log A Load golf tournaments and annual fund drive, sponsoring teams and the events each year.