New Faces at MSSPA!
by Alice Persons, Volunteer
Meet Meris J. Bickford, the Society’s new Vice President of External Affairs and trial counsel. Meris started her "dream job " in February this year, and is brimming with ideas about how to promote the Society and its mission to rescue and rehabilitate animals.
A native Mainer, Meris brings an impressive array of talents and experience to the Society. She’s an honors graduate of UMO and received her J.D. from the University of Maine School of Law in 1986. She has extensive legal experience in both private and public sector and recently served as President of the Maine State Bar Association. Meris organized the bar association’s first animal law session, which is where she met Marilyn Goodreau, President of the MSSPA. Thereafter, Meris fell in love with the Society’s farm and the wonderful care given the animals.
A lifelong believer in volunteering and giving back to the community, Meris, among other volunteer positions, worked as a presenter for Kids First for five years and served on the Bangor Humane Society Board for three years.
Her interest in and love for horses and all animals began early. "The first photo of me in the family album, when I was a baby, shows me on a couch, surrounded by ten gold retriever puppies. When I was older, my mother let us ride our ponies into the living room and sit on them while we watched TV. Looking back on it now, that was pretty unusual!" When Meris was nine, her parents gave her her first horse, a standardbred right off the track. At present she is the doting owner of Big Mac, a rescued grey standardbred with a mysterious past.
Meris is very excited about the opportunities for the Society. Some of the projects on her to-do list include helping to develop a website for the Society, increasing membership, raising money, and planning special events. The Society is planning a Ride to Rescue in October, which Meris is busy working on. More details about this cool "No Ride, Ride " are on the website. Be sure to register and "Ride! " Another major part of Meris’ job is litigating animal cruelty or neglect cases when animals seized by law enforcement agents of the State of Maine have been placed with the Society.
"This is work I have been coming to all my life, " said Meris. "I believe passionately in the mission of the Society, and am honored to have a part in it."