In This Issue:

• Awards
• Jon's Corner
• Board Election Results
• Spotlight!
• Photos

SUFU Awards!



Each year at the SUFU conference we take time to recognize those that have worked hard as self-advocates to promote self-advocacy and the causes of self-advocates in their community, their chapter, Maine and beyond.

This year's Paige Barton award winner is Stephanie Pelletier. Stephanie exemplifies self-advocacy through telling her story and fighting for marriage equality.

This year's Directors Choice award goes to Brian Harnish. Brian took a chance to help develop mentors in Person Centered Planning.

Chapters vote on the Marcia Rosen Award for their chapter. The award winners are:

• York County - Caroline Collins
• Western Foothills - Patrick Harkness
• Discussion and Action - Marco Orlando
• Northern Penobscot - Jeanette Levesque
• Downeast - Daniel Francis
• Southern Aroostook - Terri Weed
• Central Aroostook - Rose Belanger

Greatest Of All Time awards were given to self-advocates that traveled to Washington DC this spring to the Disability Policy Seminar. The self-advocates attended the seminar and participated in Hill Visits where they spoke about Social Security Reform.

The G.O.A.T. award winners are:

• Regina Bowie
• Rose Belanger
• Marco Orlando
• Jon McGovern
• Kile Pelletier
• Stephanie Pelletier
• Abbott Philson
• Eric McVay

In addition a special Thank You to Dan and Jane McGovern, Susan Farwell and John Philson for making the trip to Washington D.C. You helped make the trip a success!

Jon's Corner

Hi everybody, this is Jon

I have already attended the SUFU Conference event facilitated by SUFU. This was our 31^st year. 

We had the conference at the Bangor Grande, and they were accommodating.  The staff there were very nice. 

I loved the workshops that Janet May and Kile Pelletier and Megan Salvin did. Janet May’s workshop was called Exploring the Wellness Wheel. She did a great job explaining everything to everyone so that the workshop made sense.  Janet is very engaging and makes her workshops interactive. 

The workshop that Kile and Megan did was on Advocacy in Action. We were able to talk through different scenarios that we as self-advocates may face and how we would handle them. This was a great opportunity to practice self-advocacy in everyday life. 

The SUFU Staff got thanked at the SUFU Conference this year and the Board stepped up this year as well. 

Everything went really well with the conference this year and that shows how well we work together as a team.  I helped out some Members at the SUFU Conference. I enjoy helping others and that is the way I was brought up – to help others.   

There were some great raffle items this year, like the screaming goat and the surprise item of a free conference attendance for next year!  Stacy Smart won the free conference attendance for 2025!  

Board Elections

Congratulations to the following SUFU Members who were elected to the board of directors:

• Cindy Thielen
• Daniel Francis
• Barbara Pomeroy
• Hope Churchill
• Patrick MacDougal
• Jamie Kemper
•  Bobby Little

Returning to the board for their second term

• Tucker Conley
• Georgia West
• Sarah Trites

Spotlight

Each year we spotlight self-advocates who have achieved something during the past year that we would like to celebrate .

• Abbott Philson for being part of Project Connect and he went on to serve as the MDDC Co-Chair.
• Beth Flannery helped SUFU with the Pie in the Sky Fundraiser.
• Brian Harnish represented SUFU at Disability Awareness Day at the Statehouse.
• Bobby Reynolds helped plan and complete the SUFU Canoe Fun Run.
• Caroline Collins pushed herself out of her comfort zone and went hiking on the accessible GOAT trail.
• Chris Dupont was part of Project Connect.
• Chris Heywood spoke up to become a SUFU officer and he represented SUFU at Disability Awareness Day at the Statehouse.
• Cindy Thielen represented SUFU at Disability Awareness Day at the Statehouse and demonstrated her leadership by talking about Supported Decision Making.
• Chris Weymouth helped plan and complete the SUFU Canoe Fun Run.
• Daniel Francis stepped up as a leader this year and is serving on the REV UP Coalition working hard to make ballot questions written in plain language. Daniel also was featured in a Mother Jones article.
• Eric McVay is a strong self-advocate involved in many things. He is a LEND trainee mentor and he represents Maine on the SABE board. He also participated in Project Connect.
• Elizabeth Toner helped SUFU with the Pie in the Sky Fundraiser.
• Georgia West advocated to live in a different place and now has a job! She is also serving SUFU as a Board Officer.
• Justin Johnson stepped out of his comfort zone and went to a community event with his peers for the first time!
• Jon McGovern was part of Project Connect, the REV UP Coalition and he is always representing Maine on SARTAC calls.
• Kevin Stubbs speaks up at chapter meetings and he advocated for himself to come to the SUFU Conference overnight!
• Mark Elkins helped with the Pie in the Sky Fundraiser.
• Marco Orlando represented SUFU at several presentations on Ableism and at Disability Awareness Day at the Statehouse.
• Rose Belanger represented SUFU at Disability Awareness Day at the statehouse and demonstrated her leadership as the Board Chair through tabling events, fundraising, and sharing our mission. 
• Regina Bowie was part of Project Connect and she is moving on to become a Council Member. She has been a panelist and using her leadership around healthy relationships and violence prevention.
• Reegan Boynton helped plan and complete the SUFU Canoe Fun Run.
• Rena Young always asks questions and she worked hard in the community to help with fundraising this year.
• Stephanie Pelletier made hats and donated them. She also participated in Project Connect.
• Terry Weed helped SUFU with the Pie in the Sky Fundraiser. She worked the booth on April 8th!

Photos Please enjoy some of the photos we have from our 2024 SUFU Conference!