Burrelles employees helping Red Cross
PRESQUE ISLE — When Mel Smith of Presque Isle swims his laps at the city’s Indoor Pool on Saturday morning, July 24, he won’t be the only one benefiting from the aquatic workout. And he also won’t be the only employee of BurrellesLuce who has demonstrated a commitment to help suffering neighbors — both near and far — by raising money for the American Red Cross.
Mel Smith, an employee of BurrellesLuce in Presque Isle, will be swimming in the Red Cross Swim-A-Cross event on July 24 at the Presque Isle Indoor Pool.
Smith is one of many local residents taking part in the 2010 Swim-A-Cross, which the Aroostook Division of the Red Cross’s Pine Tree Chapter is sponsoring in partnership with the “Healthy You” program of Cary Medical Center. The event will be held from 9:30 a.m. to noon, at the Presque Isle Indoor Pool.
Proceeds from Swim-A-Cross will be used to assist the Red Cross in providing emergency services in Aroostook County. Funds also will be earmarked for Healthy You, whose health and wellness programs have been attended by thousands of County residents over the past two years.
BurrellesLuce, the oldest media monitoring service in the Unites States, opened a Presque Isle facility in 1980. Smith works in the company’s ExpressWeb department, which continuously monitors, and sends to clients, all Internet coverage that its editors match to clients’ tracking instructions.
Social consciousness is a quality that characterizes BurrellesLuce employees, as exemplified by the actions of individuals like Mel Smith, and the work groups like the Wellness Committee and the Sunshine Club, which raise money for deserving colleagues and neighbors.
This past March, the Sunshine Club expanded its scope by holding a raffle to raise money for Red Cross relief efforts in Haiti following the catastrophic earthquake that occurred on Jan. 12.
Hundreds of raffle tickets were sold, bring in $850. The Sunshine Club donated that sum, plus $670, which represented the cost of the big screen TV it offered as the March prize. A BurrellesLuce delegation hand-delivered a check to Joyce Knorr, the Red Cross’s Aroostook division manager, in a presentation hosted by the Sunshine Club.
BurrellesLuce (Presque Isle office) employee Laurie Davis won a 42-inch television during a company fund-raiser for the Red Cross.
THE Sunshine Club at BurrellesLuce in Presque Isle recently presented a check to Joyce Knorr of the Red Cross. Pictured from left are: Kristi Herron, Red Cross volunteer; Joyce Knorr, branch manager of the Aroostook County Branch of the Red Cross; Laurie Davis, TV winner; and Sunshine Club members Gail Berry, Andrew Ricker, Cathy Ricker, and Leith Tompkins.
