August 2015: Here’s a nifty story about a Highland Green resident’s effort to enhance the services of Avian Haven, a non-profit bird rehabilitation facility in Freedom, Maine. Charlie Evans recently used his interest in animals and his professional background and connections to secure a generous donation.
But first this: bird themes are prevalent at Highland Green. These avian motifs are much more than symbolic. They represent our brand, a natural setting, plentiful wildlife, and a commitment by the many folks who live here to conservation and community service.
The Highland Green logo features a duck emerging from cattails and marsh grass. The Pub at Highland Green is named theWild Duck. All streets in the initial four phases of the development, inclusive of the first 152 homes built here, are named for birds found on the campus. Our vast 635-acre campus includes the 235-acre Cathance River Nature Preserve and the 30-acre Heath Sanctuary, prime bird watching areas.
After Charlie and Carol Evans moved to Highland Green from New Hampshire in 2014 it more than lived up to their expectations. “We hardly could have been prepared for how truly deep the themes of ‘lifestyle’ and ‘community’ are in real life at Highland Green and how important a factor they are in our happiness,” says Carol.
They quickly became involved in several organizations connected to and nearby the community. At the Topsham Library, considered somewhat of a ‘second community center’ for Highland Green, they attended a program last October sponsored by the Cathance River Education Alliance, the non-profit nature based educational organization developed in concert with Highland Green. The topic of the program was Avian Haven.
Avian Haven was founded in 1999 to rehabilitate birds, has grown an annual case load of about 1,500, and has treated nearly 12,000 birds from more than 100 species. Charlie took a special interest, having recently retired as an experienced animal physical therapist.
At the end of the October library presentation, Charlie approached Mark Payne, who handles much of the rehab work for Avian Haven, and asked him if he was familiar with low level laser equipment used in wound healing and reduction of inflammation. Charlie has used this technology extensively in his rehab work on dogs. Mark said that he was aware but that they could not afford it.
The next day Charlie made a call to the manufacturer of the laser equipment who immediately decided to donate it free of charge, a value of $10,000. The only condition was that Avian Haven report their results. Both Charlie and Mark were blown away.
On the occasion of a visit to Avian Haven, Charlie helped Mark treat a wounded Bittern that had not healed successfully after a month of care. In follow up calls Mark indicated that the laser treatment had been successful in healing the wound. They are continuing to use the laser equipment in rehabbing other birds since then.
The story comes full circle back to the bird themes at Highland Green. Charlie and Carol Evans live on Bittern Drive!
