$1 Million Awarded in 2021 Direct Services Grant Program
Portland – The John T. Gorman Foundation has awarded 71 grants totaling $1 million to provide food, shelter, and other essential services to Mainers in need through its 2021 Direct Services Grant Program. The Foundation increased funding to the annual program this year to reflect the incredible level of need throughout Maine during the pandemic.
“Even before the pandemic, too many Mainers were experiencing food insecurity, homelessness, and lack of access to many other essentials. Over the last year, the pandemic has only made the situation much worse – increasing unmet needs in Maine communities and straining the organizations that are working valiantly to address them,” said Lauralee Raymond, Program Associate at the John T. Gorman Foundation. “We are privileged to be able to support the efforts of these community organizations to help Mainers get through this extremely difficult time.”
The Foundation’s annual Direct Services Grant Program supports organizations that are addressing the basic needs of vulnerable Mainers. The largest numbers of grants this year went to organizations offering food assistance, addressing homelessness, and providing other supports to low-income families and individuals, such as clothing, household items, and heating and electrical assistance. Other areas of giving included support for survivors of domestic violence and sexual abuse, community transportation, immigrant services, and health care access.
| Organization | Award Amount | Project Description | County Served | Organization City |
| Adoptive and Foster Families of Maine | $9,000 | To support economically disadvantaged kinship families through emergency financial assistance specific to food, heating and utilities assistance, and the provision of beds or cribs. | Statewide | Bangor |
| Amistad | $20,000 | General operating support to develop peer services and to address the needs of low-income individuals with mental illness and other life challenges. Their mission-focused work includes providing housing, food, clothing, healthcare navigation, and life-saving supports to individuals facing steep barriers. | Cumberland | Portland |
| Area Interfaith Outreach | $15,000 | Support will allow AIO to provide electricity disconnection assistance to clients who financially struggle to cover living expenses as a result of the impact of COVID-19. | Knox | Rockland |
| Aroostook County Action Program | $15,000 | To provide support for the Family Safety Program, providing safety in the homes of families with young children with resources. | Aroostook | Presque Isle |
| Augusta Food Bank | $15,000 | To provide general operating support for those suffering with food insecurity. | Kennebec | Augusta |
| Bangor Area Homeless Shelter | $20,000 | General operating support providing shelter food and other needed supports to people who are homeless and living in poverty in the Bangor area. | Penobscot | Bangor |
| Belfast Public Health Nursing Association | $15,000 | Provide support for community outreach services and purchase limited but urgently needed basic needs supports, for low-income and vulnerable individuals residing in Waldo County. | Waldo | Rockland |
| Belfast Soup Kitchen | $15,000 | To provide general operating support for those suffering with food insecurity. | Waldo | Belfast |
| Boothbay Region Community Resource Council | $15,000 | Providing support for increased access to food, housing, employment, transportation, heating assistance, and behavioral health. | Lincoln | Boothbay Harbor |
| Caring Unlimited | $15,000 | To provide general operating support for critical domestic violence support and safety planning programs and respond to the ongoing economic impact and uncertainty of the COVID19 pandemic by ensuring services remain available free of charge, and accessible 24 hours a day to anyone impacted by domestic violence. | York | Sanford |
| Castine Community Partners | $10,000 | Provide support of the Castine Area Relief Fund that provides weekly food distributions, rent abatements and utility assistance. | Hancock | Castine |
| Center For a Green Future also known as Growing to Give | $5,000 | Provide general operating support for providing farm fresh, healthy, organic produce to as many low income families and individuals as possible. | Cumberland | Brunswick |
| Christine B Foundation | $15,000 | To provide nutrition assistance to food insecure patients with cancer, recent survivors, and their families, in eastern Maine. | Penobscot | Bangor |
| Community Compass with the fiscal sponsor being Downeast Community Partners | $15,000 | To provide general operating support to Community Compass for the navigator program, helping families in a ten-town region connect with needed services to break the cycle of poverty and improve their life circumstances. | Hancock | Ellsworth |
| Community Food Matters, Fiscal Sponsor: Center for an Ecology-Based Economy | $10,000 | To support Foothills Foodworks, which pays community members a fair wage to make meals which are then provided to food insecure Oxford County residents. | Oxford | Norway |
| Easter Seals Maine | $15,000 | To provide critical housing supports and services for veterans and service members who are unstably housed, homeless, or at risk of homelessness in the rural Bangor area. | Penobscot | South Portland |
| Ellsworth Free Medical Clinic | $15,000 | Provide general operatings support for free healthcare and treatment to those without health insurance. | Hancock | Ellsworth |
| Emmanuel Lutheran Episopal Church | $15,000 | Provide general operating support for the Bridging the Gap initiative providing clothing and hygiene items such as toilet paper, tampons, shampoo, socks, new underwear, winter coats and footwear. | Kennebec | Augusta |
| Friendship House | $5,000 | Provide general operating support for men who are homeless transitioning from incarceration and/or seeking recovery from (SUD) substance use disorder. | Cumberland | South Portland |
| Healthy Acadia | $15,000 | To support the Downeast Gleaning Initiative, which works with farms, farmers’ markets, and gardeners to harvest surplus food and redistribute it to food security organizations across Hancock and Washington counties. | Hancock/Washington | Ellsworth |
| Healthy Community Coalition which is part of MaineHealth | $20,000 | To provide emergency food bags to low-income, food-insecure residents in Franklin County through visits to medical practices, a mobile health unit, and two community programming sites. | Franklin | Farmington |
| HOME | $15,000 | To provide general operating support for a homeless shelter and basic needs response programs such as food distribution, emergency overnight shelter, emergency firewood, and assistance with basic needs items not covered under SNAP benefits such as toiletries, sanitizer, and soap and warm winter clothing. | Hancock | Orland |
| Homeless Services of Aroostook | $15,000 | Provide general operating support for the Sister Mary O’Donnell Emergency Homeless and Aroostook Bridge shelters, the only homeless shelters for the general public in Aroostook County. | Aroostook | Presque Isle |
| Immigrant Legal Advocacy Project | $25,000 | Provide general operating support for a full range of state-wide immigration legal services. | Statewide | Portland |
| In Her Presence | $10,000 | To provide general operating support for basic needs such as the purchase of food, diapers, phone cards for immigrant, asylum seeker and refugee women and children in the Greater Portland Community. | Cumberland | Westbrook |
| Knox County Homeless Coalition | $20,000 | Provide general operatings support for programs, including emergency homeless services, client care (case management with wraparound services), operation of a family shelter, youth outreach, case management and supportive housing. | Knox | Rockland |
| Lake Region Senior Service | $10,000 | To support a volunteer-based transportation service in Western Maine that provides rides to medical appointments for individuals without other transportation options. | Cumberland | Bridgton |
| Lubec Community Outreach Center | $10,000 | Provide general operating support for a food pantry and youth and senior programming. | Washington | Lubec |
| Mabel Wadsworth Womens Health Center | $15,000 | To provide essential physical and mental health care services to low-income people in Northern and Eastern Maine. | Penobscot | Bangor |
| Maine Coast Fishermens Association | $24,600 | To support the Fishermen Feeding Mainers program, which stabilizes Maine’s seafood businesses through supplying fish to programs serving food insecure people in Maine. | Statewide | Brunswick |
| Maine Immigrants Rights Coalition | $10,000 | Provide general operating support to provide basic needs for recent asylum seekers and undocumented families who are most challenged in the COVID-19 pandemic. | Statewide | Portland |
| Maine Inside Out | $15,000 | To support system-involved youth and their families through the provision of emergency funds, peer supports, and connections to community resources. | Statewide | Portland |
| Mid Coast Hunger Prevention Program | $15,000 | To provide general operating support for those suffering with food insecurity. | Cumberland | Brunswick |
| Midcoast Community Alliance | $20,000 | To support outreach to at-risk, homeless and/or unaccompanied youth, who are demonstrating an increase in needs, and complexity of needs, as a result of COVID-19. | Sagadahoc | Bath |
| Mid-Maine Homeless Shelter | $10,000 | Provide general operating support to provide shelter, case management and housing services to all homeless individuals. | Kennebec | Waterville |
| Milestone Recovery | $25,000 | Provide general operating funds to support meeting basic needs of vulnerable Mainers experiencing homelessness and/or behavioral health challenges. | Cumberland | Portland |
| Neighbors Driving Neighbors | $5,000 | Provide general operating support for rides for the most vulnerable neighbors in need of transportation. | Kennebec | Mt. Vernon |
| New Beginnings | $20,000 | Provide general operating support for youth and young adults who are experiencing housing instability, trauma, and food insecurity, especially in the face of the ongoing challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic. | Androscoggin | Lewiston |
| OHI | $15,000 | To support the efforts of the Brewer Area Food Pantry to serve local food-insecure residents and families. | Penobscot | Bangor |
| One Less Worry | $5,000 | Provide general operating support for menstrual pads, tampons, toilet paper, bladder pads, toothpaste and soap. | Knox | Rockland |
| Piscataquis Regional Food Center | $7,000 | Provide opearting suppot for food delivery to HomeBound seniors. | Piscataquis | Dover Foxcroft |
| River Valley Healthy Communities Coalition | $15,000 | To provide general operating support for those suffering with food insecurity. | Oxford | Rumford |
| Rockland District Nursing Association | $15,000 | To provide general operating support for affordable, non-acute, in-home nursing services to low-moderate income elderly living in Rockland and seven surrounding communities. | Knox | Rockland |
| RSU 56 | $2,400 | To provide transportation support to families of remote or in-person learners who are truant, disengaged from learning, or otherwise in need. | Oxford | Dixfied |
| Rural Community Action Ministry | $15,000 | To provide general operating support for housing the homeless and providing hunger prevention services to low- income people living in rural Central Maine. | Androscoggin | Leeds |
| Safe Voices | $15,000 | To provide general operating support to assist survivors of domestic violence, stalking, and sex trafficking/exploitation in accessing basic needs and community resources and services while they reside in temporary and transitional housing at the Safe Voices Farmington Resource Center. | Androscoggin/Franklin | Auburn |
| Sebago Lakes Region Chamber of Commerce Charitable Trust | $5,000 | To provide general operating support for the Feed the Need initiative, which provides financial support to 11 food pantries in Western Cumberland towns (Casco, Gray, Naples, New Gloucester, Raymond, Sebago, Standish and Windham). | Cumberland | Windham |
| Seeds of Hope Neighborhood Center | $10,000 | To provide general operating support for food and shelter at the Overnight Warming Center as well as provide essentials such as camping equipment and clothing items, underwear and socks for those experiencing homelessness. | York | Biddeford |
| Sexual Assault Response Services of Southern Maine | $25,000 | To support staffing to respond to the high rates of child sexual abuse in York County and the demand for forensic interview services at the county’s Children’s Advocacy Center. | York | Portland |
| Sexual Assault Support Services of Midcoast Maine | $25,000 | To increase outreach, education, and service delivery efforts, so as to better meet the needs of sexual violence and human trafficking survivors in the Midcoast area. | Cumberland | Brunswick |
| Shalom House | $10,000 | To provide support for an emergency fund that low-income clients may access to meet their basic housing, health, transportation and other critical needs when other payment sources have been exhausted. | Cumberland | Portland |
| Shaw House | $20,000 | To provide general operating support for the youth homeless shelter. | Penobscot | Bangor |
| Skidompha Library | $2,500 | To increase access to youth and adolescent mental health, wellness, and community supports during the COVID-19 pandemic. | Lincoln | Damariscotta |
| Somali Bantu Community Lewiston of Maine | $15,000 | To provide general operating support provide vital transitional services, advocacy, and food production that empowers members of the refugee community to uphold cultural identity and economic well-being. | Androscoggin | Lewiston |
| Somerset Career & Technical Center | $15,000 | To support the food pantry, food box, and backpack programs of the RSU 54 school district. | Somerset | Skowhegan |
| Table of Plenty | $10,000 | To provide general operating support to provide meals at two local sites in York County to those experiencing food insecurity due to stresses and hardships caused by the Pandemic. | York | Berwick |
| Tedford Housing | $20,000 | To provide general operating support for case management services, emergency shelter and homeless prevention/outreach to those experiencing homelessness. | Cumberland | Brunswick |
| The Progress Center | $15,000 | To support community meals and food distribution programs serving low-income people, including home-delivery to recently discharged hospital patients at risk for malnutrition. | Oxford | Oxford |
| The Root Cellar | $15,000 | To provide general operating support for emergency food pantries to address food insecurity in the Tree Streets neighborhood of Lewiston and the East Bayside/Kennedy Park Neighborhood of Portland. | Androscoggin/Cumberland | Lewiston |
| Through These Doors | $15,000 | To provide operating support for basic needs of victims/survivors of domestic violence and their children such as food, clothing, shelter, medical needs and transportation. | Cumberland | Portland |
| Trinity Jubilee Center | $15,000 | To provide general operating support for the Soup Kitchen by providing food and purchasing food from local restaurants to be served to the hungry and homeless. | Androscoggin | Lewiston |
| Twin Villages Foodbank Farm, Fiscal Sponsor: Coastal Rivers Conservation Trust | $20,000 | Provide general operating support to increase capacity to grow, store, and distribute high-quality fresh foods to those experiencing food insecurity. | Lincoln | Damariscotta |
| Union Street Brick Church | $5,000 | To provide general operating support for those experiencing homelessness with a focus on the hardest to house. | Penobscot | Bangor |
| Unitarian Universalist Association | $5,000 | To provide support for the purchase of essential household and hygiene items for people in need. | York | Sanford |
| Veggies To Table | $5,000 | Provide general operating support for providing farm fresh, healthy, organic produce to as many low income families and individuals as possible. | Lincoln | Newcastle |
| Volunteers of America | $14,500 | To support the Cabin in the Woods’ Community Coordinator, who serves chronically homeless veterans with mental health issues or economic situations affecting their ability to obtain or maintain permanent housing. | Kennebec | Brunswick |
| Wabanaki Health and Wellness | $25,000 | To support tribal members’ substance use recovery efforts through the Wicuhkemtultine (Helping All) program. | Penobscot | Bangor |
| Waldo County Bounty, Fiscal Sponsor: Unity Barn Raisers | $15,000 | To provide operating support for programs that help address the needs of food insecure people in Waldo County, including farm to pantry purchasing, gleaning, support to home gardeners, and related services. | Waldo | Unity |
| Western Maine Transportation Services | $15,000 | To provide general operatings support for public transportation and using this funding to match federal funding. | Androscoggin/Franklin/Oxford | Auburn |
| York County Community Action Corp | $15,000 | To support same-day transportation services for York County residents, so they may meet essential, urgent needs. | York | Sanford |
| York County Shelter Programs | $15,000 | To provide general operating support for shelter and a food pantry for those experiencing homelessness and food insecurity. | York | Alfred |
ABOUT THE JOHN T. GORMAN FOUNDATION
John T. Gorman, known as Tom, was a grandson of L.L. Bean and established the Foundation in 1995 to help disadvantaged Mainers. In recent years, the independent, statewide Foundation has moved to focus strategically on four key areas: improving educational achievement for children; promoting successful transitions to adulthood for vulnerable older youth; helping struggling parents to support their families and enabling low-income seniors to remain in their homes as long as possible.