Sky Diving Adventure for a 40th Birthday AND a Good Cause!

Back in April, Cynde Laband, a resident of Harrison, started to think about how she would celebrate her 40th birthday on June 22. She and her friends had recently been discussing their own ‘Bucket Lists’, tailored after the popular, recent movie that features characters creating a list of ‘Must Do’s’ before they ‘kick the bucket’. Cynde, who is afraid of heights, decided to take the challenge and try sky diving. But, she also wanted her effort to benefit a local not for profit charity, and since she is a nurse, although a stay at home mom and busy volunteer right now; she decided Bridgton Hospital was a great charity to raise funds for. So, raise funds she did!

Cynde scheduled her skydive with Skydive New England, located in Lebanon, Maine, for Sat., June 27. Then she got to work! Cynde organized a ‘Cut a Thon’ at Salon 616, owned by Tonya Tibbetts, along with ‘Running with Scissors’ salon owner Sarah Lowell. Tyler Patterson also offered massages at the event, Kelly Perkins ran a bake sale and Heather Silvia of Maine Morning Micro Roasters provided the coffee. Funds raised from their services were donated to Cynde’s fundraising effort. Cynde’s little girls, Briggs Bolduc (10) and Lainey Laband (7), helped with selling snow cones. Cynde also began selling BRIDGTON HOSPITAL - TEAM CYNDE bracelets at area stores, and she contacted her family, friends and e-mail list seeking their support for her dive and for Bridgton Hospital.

Cynde’s skydive was on a non-rainy Saturday, one of the few that month. She jumped from a Skydive New England plane at between 12,000 and 14,000 feet with Skydive professional instructor Dan Lane as her partner. Skydive photographer Pete Matos captured the exciting 4 ½ minutes to the ground, taking some truly breath taking photographs. While her children and husband, along with other family members, searched the sky for the orange, red and black parachute that would be Cynde’s, Cynde experienced the thrill of over-coming her fear of heights by jumping from a plane for a great cause, supporting her local hospital. Cynde raised $1,345.00 in donations and presented the funds to the hospital to use for the Bridgton Hospital Annual Fund.

Would she do it again? In a heartbeat - and, in fact, she’s heading back next month with a friend to share the exhilarating experience!

I would like to take this moment to thanks everyone at Skydive NE for their professional attitude and all around willingness to make sure my group and I had a great skydive day. This was by far the best event that my friends and I have done thus far. In fact we are in the process of planning another jump day the weekend of Oct 25th and I know at least 2 of us are going to enroll into the AFF program you run. I don't know most of the instructors that went along the jump with us but I would like to give a special thanks to my instructor Paolo and the camera man Keith. These 2 gentlemen made sure I had the day of my life and its cause of them we are coming back as were all the instructors that day I am just sorry I don't know the names of them so I can give them the recognition they deserve. Thanks and we will be seeing you in a month. Keep up the good work !

Bob C

P. S Please forward this email to the owners of Skydive NE. I would like to hear their feed back to this email. thanks again !

Wow, and I mean Wow, what an amazing time. My friends and I (Michael Coyne) talked about sky diving at the beginning of the summer, along with a million other things we “wanted” to do. To be 100% honest, this was the only thing we got done, and I’m telling you, as I am sure you already know, it is nothing short of the best thrill and rush of adrenaline that I and they have EVER or WILL experience. Our class was at 1:00pm, and we signed our waivers and thought shortly there after we would be flying, but that didn’t happen. I’m assuming due to weather (the HUGE clouds) things got delayed a bit. We ended up jumping at around 4:30ish. SO WORTH THE WAIT, I waited in line for The Superman Roller Coaster @ Six Flags for 3 hours once and thought that was worth it. I’d wait all day at your awesome jump site, we played football, and entertained ourselves with that awesome game with the metal ring on a string to catch it on the hook. BIG JIM is by far one of the coolest people I have ever met. He gave me all and more of the information I needed to have a great jump and just like he said when he saw me “We fell like a safe” from the sky, I still have that high I had from the second I left the plane, the best high there is, yes more expensive than other extra curricular activities ha-ha, but so WORTH IT!!! I just wanted you all to know you have amazing jobs, and you all do a great job at it! But I have to say BIG JIM kicks ass!!!! I will be back in October, the day before I leave for Ireland, to experience this awesome feel again!!!!!!!!

Thank You so much, and I look forward to seeing you all again!!!!

-Michael C

You guys rock! my husband and I did our first jump with you on the fourth weekend 08 and loved it so much and the people we came back for a second over the same weekend. We have found our new vice......world is such a great place when you are flying through the air. Big thanks goes out to the Matts who took us both times you guys are AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!! Grand job SDNE

-Therese J

Hey guys, I came and jumped at SNE on Friday, July 4th. I make 90% of my jumps at another dropzone, but i had jumped at SNE a few times before. Every time, I say I am going to start jumping there more because I really like the atmosphere. This time, I think I will finally start making the trip more regularly (I live closer to the other dropzone). This is because of the way I was treated the other day... Adam, Megan and Marc went above and beyond to make sure I was involved, learned something, and had a great time. Adam offered to do a head down coached jump with me. Not only did he use his own money for his slot, he appeared to be happy to do it. I learned more and had more fun in that one day than I have had in a while. I just wanted to let you guys know that I will be jumping there more, and that those guys are the reason. I don't know if they are coaches, or if it matters, but it may be worth asking them to set up some freefly coaching through SNE. See you guys around.

-Dan O

I just wanted to let you all know, even though I'm sure you hear it all the time. That you guys were amazing, i have never done this before and i finally did it! The jump was amazing, the staff were wonderful. You could deff tell that they weren't in it for the money or the pleasure of jumping out of an air plane at 14,000 feet! They were totally in it for us! You guys rock and i will never forget you! Ive been through a lot, but this experience has opened my eyes up to leaps and bounds that i have never taking before. Thank you all so much, and it was my pleasure to have jumped with you all.

P.S. This isn't the last you have seen of me!!!

-Jess

Again, thanks so much for everything, I will be back soon, and hopefully you will still be there when my kids get older. It would be nice to see their first jump! Just like they watched mine!

You guys rock!! But you already know that!
-Amy D

Hey guys!, I went Tandem Skydiving today for the first time and i have to say, nothing beats the feeling of freedom and excitment!. I was very impressed with my staff instructor, Matt F. Matt did a wonferful job making me feel 100% comfortable and ready to jump! Thanks so much Matt for your efforts in making my jump incredible! :) THANKS AGAIN SNE, U GUYS ROCK MY WORLD!! yeahhh!!!! <3333

ps. i will be back!! ~PEACE~ ;)
-Gail P

I jumped for the first time sunday 9/3/07. It was the most incredible, thrilling thing I have ever done. Matty was my tandum man and he was great. I was only nervous about the jump from the plane. Not anything else. I now am so looking forward to doing it again and again. I had know idea what I was missing! I love everything about it and I will be back every chance I get. Love ya Skydive N.E. See ya all soon.

-Sherry C

"I just wanted to say thanks for a Great experience this past weekend! Me and three of my family members did tandem jumps on Sunday and we absolutely LOVED it!! It was definitely one of the most exciting and phenomenal things that I’ve ever experienced! Just Amazing. Thanks to Tony for being such a great instructor and making things light and fun to calm my nerves on that plane ride up! Tony, you were awesome, I had a great time. (next time I won’t be so nervous) And thanks to Meaghan for creating a great video so that I’ll always remember my first jump. (I can’t believe you guys can produce a video in 15 minutes!) We’re hoping to make this a yearly event and get more and more people to come with us and try it…everyone should do it at least once right?!!!! Maybe I’ll even try jumping on my own someday!! Something to aspire to!"

-Cindy B

"I just wanted to say thanks for a Great experience this past weekend! Me and three of my family members did tandem jumps on Sunday and we absolutely LOVED it!! It was definitely one of the most exciting and phenomenal things that I’ve ever experienced! Just Amazing. Thanks to Tony for being such a great instructor and making things light and fun to calm my nerves on that plane ride up! Tony, you were awesome, I had a great time. (next time I won’t be so nervous) And thanks to Meaghan for creating a great video so that I’ll always remember my first jump. (I can’t believe you guys can produce a video in 15 minutes!) We’re hoping to make this a yearly event and get more and more people to come with us and try it…everyone should do it at least once right?!!!! Maybe I’ll even try jumping on my own someday!! Something to aspire to!"

-Cindy B

"I completed my first tandem skydive last Saturday, and I wanted to say that it was one of the greatest experiences of my life! I had a great time and have not been around a more hospitable group of people than the staff at Skydive New England! I have to say that my instructor Jason was awesome, and you made the jump so much fun that I want to continue!! I am also happy that I opted for the DVD. Mikey, you did such an amazing job with the DVD and the pictures, I was very impressed and want to thank you again! I couldn't stay for the party after, but I am hoping to make it up this weekend! Thanks again!" "Hi you guys, i just want to tell you how much i loved skydiving. I did my first tandem with a few freinds from work, remember us we were the group from the mental hospital. hmmmm i mean we work there, haha.anyway nothing could prepare me for the initial getting sucked out of the plane. Well that is what it felt like anyway.Seldyn was awsome, just looking at his smiling face made me feel comfortable.you have such a nice place there. The staff were all great. And the video keith made me was amazing.I am so glad i sprung for the dvd. It has been watched alot by my family and freinds. Well needless to say i am looking forward to my next jump in the future. Keep up the great work. peace to you all"

"I am writing to let you know that I had a great time at Skydive New England Thursday August 2, 2007.
I had Pali as my instructor and Meaghan actually recorded my jump. I would like to thank both of them for showing me a fantastic time, I am definetly coming back in the future when I scrap up some extra money to jump again! Pali I hope to see you next time I come back because you better bet that I am requesting you for my second jump! Thanks again!" "I'm writing to you today to tell you how WONDERFUL my experience was with your team on Saturday, June 30th when I did my first tandem jump with Paolo and Kai. I have watched my DVD 30 times and still can't watch it enough. I can't imagine why anyone wouldn't cough up the extra money for a VHS or DVD of this experience - especially since you don't tend to remember much of the first 50 seconds or so! Everything from reservations, scheduling, training, and the actual jump was handled professionally by your wonderful staff. Thank you so much for my great experience... I'll be back soon for another tandem jump."

-Sarah H -Michael C

"Hi! My name is Amy and I just went tandem skydiving for the first time yesterday. It was absolutely amazing! It was the most exciting thing I have ever done and I will definitely be back to experience it all over again. I want to thank Manny and Kai for being awesome people to dive with and everyone else at SNE! I'll be seeing you all again!" "To the great people at Skydive New England.
I wanted to let you know I had the time of my life when I jumped there. My friend Justin has been doing it for 9 years, and finally talked me into doing it. I'm glad I did. Herbie was my instructor and Keith did my video. It came out awesome. I'll be back again soon to jump again!
Thanks again! I never thought I would have done it!"

-Amy D -Will L

"I never thought I could tell someone that I went Skydiving! But, the opportunity landed in my lap and guess what? I did it! I did my tandem jump with Tony on Tuesday 10/24. Even though the experience is truly indescribable... if I had to describe it.... it was exhilarating, crazy, soooo much fun, unforgettable, wild, thrilling, stimulating, spectacular, breath-taking and unbelievable! The staff was high energy, down to earth and very comforting. I can't say I was scared until the door of that plane opened and I said to myself "NO WAY!" Well, that's when Tony started moving us towards that open door and all of a sudden there I was flying through the air with Meaghan, my wild and crazy videographer, staring at us, all smiles. That's when I realized I just did the most amazing and unforgettable thing I have ever or will ever experience. It was a once in a lifetime opportunity that I am so grateful I experienced with you guys! You can tell your staff loves what they do and still get that rush every time they jump! Thank you for the most memorable experience of my life! And, if I ever want to relive the experience I can just pop in Meaghan's amazing video she created for me and relive that adrenaline rush! Thank you Meaghan for the awesome video and a big THANK YOU to Tony for making this safe and keeping me pumped up to jump out of a perfectly good airplane! See you next year! I'm addicted!"

-Kara C.

"To the wonderful people at Skydive New England,
I wanted to personally thank you for the generous donation of a Tandem Freefall Skydive gift certificate to the Freedom Fertility Pharmacy raffle for United Way. Your donation generated quite a buzz of excitement and lots of ticket sales. Your contribution sold the most raffle tickets of all of our auctions! I believe you will be meeting several of our employees next summer. You know the Herrington family will be back. It was the highlight of our summer to jump with Jill, Tony and Meghan. Thanks again for your generous donation."

-Eileen H

"The tents have long been down and the 17th Annual Seafood Festival is now history. I want to take this time to thank all of you at Skydive New England for making the event such a success! I cannot begin to tell you the amount of rave reviews that we receive year after year on your tremendous skydiving demonstrations! Your Skydiving Demo has become the "Main Event" and is truly thrilling! You could tell by the amount of "oohs" and "aahs" and the overwhelming applause that you really made a lasting impression on the crowd! A couple of business owners expressed that the demonstration was the best they had EVER seen on Hampton Beach, and these compliments came from people who have lived and worked at Hampton Beach their entire life! You should all be very proud. Thank you so much for everything! We look forward to working with you as we begin preparing for the 2007 Seafood Festival."

-Jude Dionne
Chairman, Hampton Beach Seafood Festival

"I did my first tandem jump in early July this year and wow!! It was the most incredible thing I've ever done! Truly awesome! The whole experience was the best. Dan and Keith were great. I consider myself fortunate to have two such fun loving guys to jump with. The video Keith made for me rocked. I can't wait to come back and jump again. I tell everyone that they need to do it. Thank you all for a great time!!" "Saturday 8/19/06 was my first tandem jump, and I would have to say I had the best time of my life ! Your staff are all fun and friendly, great people to relax the nerves. Special thanks to my tandem guy Mikey and my video guy, Peter M. Thank you for making my dream come true. Haven't looked at the sky the same way since ! I'll be back... "

-Rhonda B -Kathy P

"Skydive New England really knows how to treat a person. Skydiving was the best time of my life!!! I went Sept. 21,2005 and plan on going MANY more times.Thanx again Mike,it was an Awesome Adventure!!" "Thanks everyone at Skydive New England. I just returned home from my first tandem jump. Exhillirating is the only word coming close to describing. I hope to be back soon. Thanks Dan for excellent coaching you made me feel confident. Thanks Keith I zoomed home to watch the dvd great job. I hope to see you all again soon."

-Bryan H -Gary F

"My name is Madi and I skydived today with 3 of my friends. I would just like to thank you all for an awesome experience. I had so much fun and I would like to thank you for coming to pick us up from the Dover bus station, and then taking us back there at the end of the day so generously and patiently. Thank you too for the training session that we were able to have the second we walked in the door.
Thank you to Scott who was my diving buddy. He made me so comfortable and gave me the confidence to actually just have fun and go with the flow. I never would have asked to do any spins...or probably would have agreed to them given half a choice, but being gently forced (is that an oxymoron?) into doing a back flip out of the plane, and then a 360 and best of all, stearing the parachute was just amazing!!! Even the lefts and rights were a thrill to me... it really was like a rollercoaster (and I hate rollercoasters... but now I might give them another try). Thank you Scott! It is an experience I will never forget.
And last of all, I would like to thank Mike for an awesome video and fabulous keepsake!! The music was hilarious. It fit perfectly with my hysteria on the video!! And the different shots and angles and zoom ins on pictures and slogans were terrific. I must also mention how perfect your landing was... it really put my bum thumping to shame!
Once again, one huge thanks for something that I will never in my lifetime forget!"

-Madi L

"I wanted to take a moment and thank all of you at Skydive New England. As some of the staff may already know, my husband and I have become very addicted to skydiving. We have already tandem jumped three times since August 5, 2006 and plan to jump again before the season is out! I would like to give a special thank you to Peter M., who did a wonderful job producing my video. I think I've watched it at least thirty times! Also, special thanks to Herbie, whom I've gone tandem with a couple of times now. I must say, the front flips we did were out of this world! Your an awesome Tandem Instructor with a great personality. I can't wait for many more jumps to come!!!!"

-Andrea

"I just went on my first jump a few weeks ago and loved every moment of it and would like to thank you and share a photo that was taken as soon as i jumped. Its the perfect photo that i think i will make into a poster cause it looks like it would be impossible to get a photo like this and know that its really me."

-Duane M

"I can say this without a doubt or reservation; this was indeed one of the best experiences of my life. As an insurance sales exec., the greatest risk I take is the chance of rejection. So from that place to this, is an amazing leap (no pun intended).The professionalism of your staff, from training to landing is unequalled in any anvenue of vocation or avocation. A special thanks to Mike and Meaghan for assuring me, keeping me loose and confident....I started to have some doubt of my sanity when I saw the first flyer exit the plane. The speed at which he disappeared from my view left me a little queasy. Meaghan's humor and encouragement kept me focused. I took a couple deep breaths, did a little meditation, and decided the best way for my exit would be with my eyes closed. After that it was pure wonderment...Thank you all so very much, I will return."

-Gary G