PRESQUE ISLE, Maine — The PROBUS Club of Central Aroostook marked its 25th anniversary last month with a special luncheon.
Marlene Pearce, Atlantic director and president of PROBUS Canada, to which the local club belongs, was the visiting speaker during the Sept. 19 meeting. She presented the club with a 25th anniversary certificate of accomplishment.
Pearce was active for many years as a teacher, an interior decorator with her own business, River of the Wall of Fame, was business woman of the year, an entrepreneur, author, and an adult figure skating champion.
She spoke on the history of the PROBUS Clubs, first started in England in 1965, the purpose being to increase social contacts and to hear addresses on subjects as agreed to by the members. The club activities are directed primarily to provide fellowship, and are non-political and non-sectarian. The club is not a fundraising organization.
New Zealand started its first club in 1974, Australia in 1976, and Canada in 1987. The Central Aroostook PROBUS Club is an affiliate of PROBUS Clubs of Canada with the same goals.
The group enjoyed lunch and a special 25th-anniversary cake.
Club president, Dave Maxcy, presented Pearce with a gift of a book featuring Paul Cyr’s Aroostook County photography.
Janet Snow closed the meeting with a reading called, Don’t Try to Beat The Red Light, by Robert Harris.
The club held its most recent monthly meeting on Oct. 7 at Northern Maine Community College in Presque Isle.
Club President Dave Maxcy called the meeting to order, and introduced guest speaker LeRae Kinney, SAD 1 adult education director and leader of the Going Places Network, founded one year ago by a $20,000 grant.
Kinney detailed the history of the new Presque Isle Loop bus, which began service earlier this month around the city.
The Going Places committee contacted all the various service provider agencies in Presque Isle and found that transportation is often a big problem in getting to the workplace, classes and all matter of important appointments.
Driver’s licenses through the school department cost $400 and privately are even much more than that. This has a great effect on aging citizens who no longer are driving, and young families with no way to obtain a driver’s license. Hiring a local taxi cab at $6.50 one way becomes cost prohibitive. Thus, the Presque Isle Bus Loop seeks to aid those in getting to their place of work, education and other places to which they need transportation.
The bus was purchased from a firm in Connecticut. It is a year 2015 and was driven less than 100 miles. Thanks to a generous donation from The Mary Smith Foundation, which has aided many projects in the city, the Presque Isle Loop has a metro-style bus which seats 36 passengers and is wheelchair accessible.
October 1, 2019 was the launching party for the bus, which now has 16 stops. The rides will be free until Oct. 31, on a loop which is 14 miles with two minutes at each stop. The bus runs from 6 a.m. through 7:30 p.m. Monday through Saturday, and from 8 a.m. until 12 noon and 1 p.m. through 4 p.m. on Sundays.
The Presque Isle Loop is operated by the Aroostook Regional Transportation System.
Fees are $1.75 per person one way, and $1.00 for those over age 60, military personnel and youth under 18. Children 5 and under ride free. Seven-day passes may be purchased for $18.00 and a 31-GO pass for $72.
There is a web site available which provides all the necessary information on bus fees, bus schedules, and bus arrivals and stops: www.thepiloop.org.
The routes taken and the stops are continually being evaluated and necessary changes are being made accordingly.
The PI Rotary Club auction earnings will aid in building bus stop shelters for the Presque Isle Loop.
The Going Places Network is a multi agency collaborative partnership created to provide solutions and urgent needs for our community.
