By Jeffrey B. Roth of Penobscot Bay Press.
Chuck and Belinda Lawrence founded the Lawrence Family Foundation in 2016 to create a philanthropic legacy “to make sure their charitable giving outlived themselves,” said Andrew Laslie, treasurer of the foundation. The new Lawrence Family Fitness Center is a monument to their legacy.
Laslie, a financial adviser and chief tax strategist with Vance Gray Wealth Management, Inc., based in Bangor, said the mission of the foundation “is to improve the quality of life for individuals, with an emphasis on those disadvantaged, in the State of Maine, particularly the Blue Hill Peninsula and Bangor areas.”
“The Lawrences understand the importance of fitness, and the role it plays in the overall health of individuals, both mentally and physically,” said Laslie, who has worked with and advised the Lawrences for about 15 years. “They know that the winters on the Blue Hill Peninsula are long, and cold, and there are not a lot of opportunities for indoor exercise.”