PORTLAND, Maine, June 18, 2010—At its Annual Meeting of the Policyholders, MEMIC awarded $15,000 in scholarships to three Maine students. Melissa Gelinas of Saco, Maine, and Amy and Emily Anderson of Caribou, Maine, each received a $5,000 scholarship.

Winners of the MEMIC Harvey Picker Horizon Scholarship, awarded annually to the spouse or child of a worker who has suffered a serious injury or death at work, are selected from dozens of applicants each year. Both Gelinas and the Anderson sisters experienced the death of their father due to work-related accidents.

Melissa’s father, John, a truck driver, died from injuries suffered in a crash that occurred in March of 2006. Amy and Emily lost their father, a carpenter, last December when he fell from the second story of a building onto a concrete floor.

“All three of these bright young women are full of aspirations, determination and great potential,” said MEMIC President and CEO John Leonard.

“This scholarship is meant to help alleviate the devastating impact that a workplace injury, and in both cases, death, can have on a family. We’re proud to support Melissa and the Anderson sisters in their education goals.”

Gelinas is a graduating senior at Thornton Academy in Saco. She is 18th in her class of 342 and is headed for the University of Vermont this fall. Amy Anderson is a sophomore at Bowdoin College and Emily is a senior at Caribou High School and plans to attend Wellesley College in the fall. The sisters were valedictorians of their respective classes at Caribou High School.

The MEMIC Harvey Picker Horizon Scholarship has been presented annually every year since 2001. With the 2010 award, MEMIC has granted scholarships totaling $70,000.

MEMIC's scholarship program is named after Harvey Picker, who died in March of 2008. Picker was a renowned physicist, educator and philanthropist who valued education. In 1992, Picker was appointed by then Gov. John R. McKernan as a member of the Blue Ribbon Commission on Workers’ Compensation which led to the formation of MEMIC. Picker later served as a member of the Board of Directors of MEMIC.