Maine Perspective Front Page
Hartman Awards Recognize Achievements of Four Women
The leadership of four Maine women in public health activism, economic and social justice, spirituality and children's literature will be celebrated in the Thirteenth Annual Maryann Hartman Awards Ceremony Tuesday, Nov. 10.
The ceremony from 5-7 p.m., Wells Conference Center, will honor author Barbara Cooney Porter of Damariscotta, community activists Eleanor Humes Haney of Bath and Lucy Anne Poulin of Orland, and healthcare provider Eleanor Sargent of East Machias.
The annual ceremony honors the memory of the late Maryann Hartman of the Department of Speech Communication. Hartman Awards, sponsored by the Women in the Curriculum and Women's Studies Program, recognize women whose achievements provide inspiration to other women.
- Lucy Poulin is the president and co-founder of H.O.M.E. Inc., a cooperative community dedicated to economic and social reconstruction for individuals and families in transition from homelessness to independence. Poulin, who grew up in poverty on a rural Maine farm, worked in a fiber mill and a chicken processing plant before joining a Carmelite convent. In 1970, she felt the need to actively assist the poor, especially women. With several other Carmelites, she founded Homeowners Organized for More Employment in Orland.
- Eleanor Humes Haney is a feminist theologian and community activist, affiliated with the Maine College of Art and Bangor Theological Seminary. Books she has written include Vision and Struggle: Meditations on Feminist Spirituality and Politics. Her commitment to economic and spiritual justice for women is evident in the many organizations she has founded, including the Center for Vision & Policy, establishing alliances between indigenous and non-indigenous people in Maine and New Brunswick; and the Maine Community Loan Fund, providing low-interest loans to those in need.
- Barbara Cooney Porter is the award-winning author/illustrator of more than 100 children's books, many of which have been translated into 10 languages. In 1996 she was officially recognized by Gov. King as a Maine State Treasure. Recently she has been instrumental in the effort to provide Damariscotta with a new public library. Cooney's first book, Ake and His World, was published in 1940. Her favorites are the ones with Maine settings -- Miss Rumphius, Island Boy and Hattie and the Wild Waves.
- Eleanor Sargent has been a nurse around the world, with a primary emphasis on rural Maine. For a decade, she traveled with Feed the Children teams in developing countries. Her initiatives have included collecting $2 million in hospital equipment for children's hospitals in Guatemala and El Salvador, and gathering 2,000 pounds of food for distribution to the Temporary Shelter for the Homeless in Aroostook County. Sargent has been practicing nursing in Maine for more than 45 years.