Nonprofits Providing Services Related to Mental Health, Cancer and Basic Needs Receive Funding
Portland – The John T. Gorman Foundation is awarding $800,000 to 48 Maine nonprofits through its annual Direct Services Grant Program. Through this support, the Foundation will partner with organizations who are working to meet the immediate needs of Maine’s most vulnerable people.
The Foundation’s funding is being awarded to a diverse group of organizations distributed throughout the state. These range from programs that provide support to those facing mental health challenges and battling cancer, to nonprofits that offer essential services such as housing, food and crisis supports to low-income Mainers.
“Although things seem to be turning around economically, many families in Maine are still struggling day-to-day,” said Tony Cipollone, the President and CEO of the John T. Gorman Foundation. “The organizations receiving 2017 Direct Service Grants do critical work to meet the basic needs and preserve the dignity of these families.”
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. In 2017, the Foundation expects to distribute a total of $7 million across all its grant programs and initiatives across the state.
For more information about the John T. Gorman Foundation, visit www.jtgfoundation.org.
The full list of 2017 Direct Services Grant Program recipients:
| Organization | Award Amount | County Served | Project Description |
| Amistad | $15,000 | Cumberland | To address the needs of individuals with mental illness and other life challenges. |
| Area Interfaith Outreach | $15,000 | Knox | To provide food and emergency aid to economically distressed people of Knox County. |
| Central Maine Medical Center | $15,000 | Androscoggin | For the Maine Fund for Cancer Patients at the Dempsey Center, which finances the essential needs of cancer patients throughout the state of Maine. |
| Community Financial Literacy | $15,000 | Cumberland | To provide financial education courses and individual financial and college access counseling sessions. |
| Cultivating Community | $15,000 | Cumberland | To provide local food for people with low-to-no income, including asylum-seekers. |
| Down East Hospice Volunteers | $10,000 | Washington | To provide cost-free, compassionate care for terminally ill cancer patients, their families, and their caregivers. |
| Ellsworth Free Medical Clinic | $7,000 | Hancock | To provide health care to persons whose limited finances do not allow access to basic or needed medical services. |
| Families & Children Together | $25,000 | Cumberland | To provide parents and their families with access to Navigator Services at the Community Home Alternative Medication Program (CHAMP) Clinic at Penobscot Community Health Center. |
| Friends Of Aroostook | $10,000 | Aroostook, Washington, Piscataquis and Penobscot | To grow, maintain, harvest and deliver fresh produce to people in need living in Aroostook, Washington, Piscataquis and Penobscot counties. |
| Furniture Friends | $10,000 | Cumberland | To provide donated furniture to people in the Greater Portland area who lack basic home necessities. |
| Gedakina | $20,000 | Cumberland and Penobscot | For the ‘LifeWays’ program, which focuses on increased outreach and access to direct services for Native American children, women and families in Portland and Bangor. |
| Grahamtastic Connection | $15,000 | Statewide | To provide laptops, tablets and internet access for children in Maine who are battling cancer. |
| H O M E | $15,000 | Hancock | To provide food, shelter and employment opportunities for men, women and children in Hancock County. |
| Hand In Hand (Mano En Mano) | $20,000 | Washington | To provide immigrants and migrant workers with high-quality supports and referrals to meet their basic needs. |
| Healthy Community Coalition | $25,000 | Franklin | To provide basic healthcare services to low-income, under-served residents living in Franklin County through the Mobile Health Unit. |
| Hospice Volunteers Of Hancock County | $10,000 | Hancock | To provide patient care, caregiver support, and bereavement services for residents of Hancock County. |
| Hospice Volunteers Of Waterville Area | $15,000 | Kennebec and Somerset | To serve hospice patients who have a cancer diagnosis and their families or survivors. |
| Immigrant Legal Advocacy Project | $25,000 | Statewide | For legal services to Maine’s low-income immigrants. |
| Jewish Community Alliance Of Southern Maine | $15,000 | Cumberland | For the food and diaper pantry, which serves those in need in the Portland area. |
| Kennebec Valley Mental Health Center | $25,000 | Kennebec | For the Homeless Youth Outreach Program, which works with area youth who are experiencing homelessness to assure their basic needs are met, access to mainstream resources, and that they achieve safe, stable housing. |
| Knox County Homeless Coalition | $25,000 | Knox, Lincoln and Waldo | To support mental health programs serving homeless clients in Knox, Lincoln and parts of Waldo County. |
| Lake Region Senior Service | $9,000 | Androscoggin, Cumberland, Oxford and York | For programs that provide transportation to low-income seniors, disabled citizens and cancer patients. |
| Literacy Volunteers-Androscoggin | $5,000 | Androscoggin | For one-on-one literacy and English conversation instruction for adults. |
| Locker Project | $5,000 | Androscoggin, Cumberland, Sagadahoc and York | To provide nourishing food to hungry children and their families. |
| Maine Medical Center | $24,000 | Cumberland and Kennebec | For cancer support for patients and providers at clinics in Portland and Augusta. |
| Maine School Administrative District # 60 | $24,500 | York | For the Kid Connection After School Program, which supports students with the greatest needs through quality afterschool programming. |
| Maine Sea Coast Mission | $25,000 | Washington | For the Weald Bethel Food Pantry, which serves low-income residents within a 700-mile radius of Washington County. |
| Mercy Hospital | $15,000 | Cumberland and York | For the Patient Assistance Fund, which assists adults in treatment for cancer or blood disorders who need financial help to defray the cost of out-of-pocket, non-medical expenses. |
| Mid Coast Hunger Prevention Program | $10,000 | Androscoggin, Cumberland and Sagadahoc | For programs that provide food to low- income families. |
| Milestone Foundation | $15,000 | Cumberland | For the Homeless Outreach and Mobile Engagement (HOME) Team and Emergency Homeless Shelter. |
| New Beginnings | $20,000 | Androscoggin | To support a 24-hour shelter for runaway and homeless teens. |
| OHI | $15,000 | Statewide | For programs that support recovery while decreasing isolation for people with mental illness by offering social integration, opportunities for recreation, and peer supports. |
| Penobscot Bay Medical Center | $25,000 | Knox and Waldo | For the Oncology Patient Assistance Fund, which provides assistance to financially distressed patients battling cancer. |
| Pine Tree Hospice | $10,000 | Penobscot, Somerset and Piscataquis | To assist clients and families experiencing end-of-life challenges and bereavement. |
| Portland Adult Education | $25,000 | Cumberland | To support, enhance, and expand services for low- to moderate-income New Americans in Portland by providing a continuum of services to help them overcome barriers to employment; increase professional capacity; secure employment; and become financially stable. |
| Portland Community Health Center | $25,000 | Cumberland | To support trauma screening with all new pediatric patients. |
| Preble Street | $25,000 | Cumberland | For emergency food programs at the Resource Center Soup Kitchen and Food Pantry, the Florence House Soup Kitchen, and the Teen Center Soup Kitchen. |
| River Valley Healthy Communities Coalition | $25,000 | Oxford | To provide food to families in Oxford County. |
| Seeds Of Hope Neighborhood Center | $10,000 | York | For programs that provide food to low- income families. |
| Somali Bantu Community of Maine | $5,000 | Androscoggin | For programs that provide food access, workforce development, and elder care. |
| Southern Maine Health Care | $20,000 | York | To provide immediate financial relief for healthcare- and transportation-related expenses for cancer patients. |
| St. Martin De Porres Residence | $15,000 | Androscoggin | For programs serving the homeless population of Lewiston and the surrounding area. |
| St. Mary’s Regional Medical Center | $15,000 | Androscoggin | For the St. Mary’s Nutrition Center, which provides and improves food access to those in need in Lewiston/Auburn. |
| Tedford Housing | $15,000 | Androscoggin, Cumberland, Lincoln, and Sagadahoc | To provide case management services for homeless children and their families. |
| Tri-County Mental Health Services | $25,000 | Androscoggin, Franklin and Oxford | To provide intensive family- and community-based treatment for youth in the juvenile justice system. |
| Trinity Jubilee Center | $25,000 | Androscoggin | To support the Feeding L-A Project, which provides healthy food to low-income residents of Lewiston-Auburn and the surrounding towns. |
| Unitarian Universalist Association | $8,500 | York | To provide support to purchase essential non-food items for Sanford’s Corner Cupboard.. |
| Unity Barn Raisers | $12,000 | Waldo | To provide meals and increase the nutrition value of those meals for low-income families in Waldo County. |