By Natalie Bazinet
Staff Writer
LIMESTONE — Nationally recognized for the ability to seemingly snap their fingers and turn a half-dead clunker into an unstoppable vehicular force, it comes as no surprise that employees of the Maine Military Authority literally got their hands dirty while making two Humvee donations to the Down East Emergency Medicine Institute by completely rebuilding two formerly unusable 1984 units owned by DEEMI.
Aroostook Republican photo/Natalie Bazinet
Above, when the Maine Military Authority staff makes a donation, they literally make the donation; two 1984 Humvees were recently completely customized refurbished and fully accessorized to meet the needs of D.E.E.M.I. Search and Rescue volunteers. With contributions from local businesses Dupont, Car Quest, and Caldwell Auto LLC, Maine Military Authority staff workers donated their time to fully refurbish the two impressive looking and incredibly performing vehicles at no cost to the search and rescue organization
The donation took place during a hand-off ceremony on the afternoon of Nov. 9 at the primary MMA facility at the Loring Commerce Centre, which was attended by Dr. Bower, director of DEEMI, most of the MMA volunteers and local business donors from Caldwell’s Auto LLC., CARQUEST and DuPont. The ceremony provided the volunteers and donors an opportunity to speak with DEEMI representatives, though many conversations took place around the opened hoods of the two refurbished Humvees which, at this point, aren’t just Humvees anymore; they’re High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicles.
MMA volunteers didn’t just refurbish the two vehicles; piece by piece, the HMWWV’s were loaded with all the bells and whistles that a search and rescuer dreams of, from fording technology that lets the vehicles drive through chest-deep water to two 12,000-pound winches mounted on the front of both vehicles to ensure that the search and rescuers never get stuck themselves and seemingly every gadget in-between that are as practical as they are high-tech.
“These vehicles are unstoppable,” said Bob Jandreau, MMA general manager.
While MMA employees are known for their charitable nature — MMA has been a top contributor during the annual Walk for Care at Cary Medical Center, for example — a huge donation of this caliber isn’t routine.
Aroostook Republican photo/Natalie Bazinet
The two vehicles donated by MMA, nicknamed DEEMI 1 and DEEMI 2 set the standard for search and rescue vehicles — one would be hard to find a better equipped ride anywhere.
But both MMA employees and the local donors remembered DEEMI’s willingness to help out the area in 2007 to help locate a young child who had fallen into the Aroostook River. It was months before her body was recovered.
“DEEMI contacted MMA to see how much it would cost to refurbish both Humvees, and we were more than eager to help out,” Jandreau said, “especially since they came into our backyard when they were needed.”
Clearly others at MMA have similar thoughts regarding the organization, for during the project’s planning phase when Jandreau put out a call for volunteers, every single person returned his e-mail agreeing to donate their time to what many described as a worthy and noble cause.
“It’s for a good cause and while we hope we don’t have to see them in action, they can hopefully use these vehicles to save someone’s life,” said MMA Body Shop Superintendent Dave Prentiss, who’s been with MMA since the company began roughly 13 years ago.
The unstoppable nature of the vehicles will certainly help DEEMI volunteers in their searches, Dr. Bower said. With the right volunteers and in any average scenario, the new and improved Humvees will bring search and rescue teams closer to the patients, reduce volunteer fatigue, not to mention the scouting vehicle potential and how much of the Maine woods that the vehicles can make their own road through. It’ll make search and rescue easier for (and on) the volunteers.
“We’d always hoped for a vehicle like this,” Dr. Bowe said. “The heart and soul they poured into these vehicles to make them right; they’re priceless. It’s far more than we ever expected.”
A donation this large, this thorough, this everything-they-could-have-ever-wanted has had search and rescuers excited and energized — all 180 of them.
“It helps focus our efforts toward what we need to do,” Dr. Bowe explained.
Of the 180 search and rescue volunteers, only about 10 are qualified to drive the brand new DEEMI 1 and DEEMI 2, as they were called in the MMA vehicle bay (and Dr. Bowe estimates that those names are more than likely going to stick with the vehicles.) One look at the two vehicles and anyone would understand why many of DEEMI’s search and rescuers are not seeking the proper vehicle certification to be able to drive these babies.
MMA and their employees are known for taking the time and effort required to really fix a vehicle properly, and MMA employees really flexed their creative muscles when putting together DEEMI 1 and 2.
From a perfect paint job to even making sure that the fabric covering the seats could stand full submersion (should the vehicle need to utilize its fording capabilities), the vehicles were done right and while they’re certainly pretty, they are made to be used.
While MMA volunteerism did make the donation possible, they were also helped out by CARQUEST and DuPont of Caribou, who donated the paint as well as Caldwell Auto LLC. and Sullivan’s Transportation of Old Town, who assisted with transportation of the vehicles.
Additional information regarding DEEMI can be obtained by visiting www.deemi.org.
Aroostook Republican photo/Natalie Bazinet
The donation of the two vehicles was made possible by MMA employee and local donors, which included, from left, front row: Gregg Smith, Richard Godin, Ralph Newcomb and Duke Boulier of MMA, Rick Pelkey of CARQUEST of Caribou, Troy Tompkins of DuPont from Fort Fairfield, Robbie Caldwell of Caldwell Auto LLC, Dr. Robert Bowie of DEEMI was also present, grateful for the donation. Back row: Adam Foster, Bob Jandreau, Dave Prentiss of MMA and Raeleen Chapman of CARQUEST of Caribou.
