2022 Direct Services Grants will help 90 nonprofits across the state provide food, shelter, and other essential services, including over $500,000 for programs specifically serving older Mainers
Portland – The John T. Gorman Foundation has awarded 90 grants totaling $1.5 million to provide food, shelter, and other essential services to Mainers in need through its 2022 Direct Services Grant Program. The total includes $505,000 for 31 programs specifically serving older adults.
“From gas to groceries, rising costs have made it much harder for Maine people to afford essential items and services. Older adults with low incomes have been put into especially difficult situations,” said Lauralee Raymond, John T. Gorman Foundation Manager, Special Initiatives. “The John T. Gorman Foundation is privileged to be able to boost the efforts of organizations who are helping Mainers meet vital needs in all 16 counties with this year’s Direct Services Grant Program.”
The Foundation’s annual Direct Services Grant Program supports nonprofits that are addressing basic needs for Maine people – including food security, shelter, health care/mental health, and economic supports. This year, the Foundation increased funding available for organizations that are meeting a range of needs for older adults, including companionship, transportation, home repair, and legal assistance.
Full descriptions of the grants below. *Denotes grants serving older adults.
| Organization | Amount | Grant Description | Counties Served | Organization City |
| Adoptive and Foster Families of Maine, Inc. | $10,000 | To support in-need kinship families through emergency financial assistance to include food, transportation, heating and utilities assistance, and the provision of beds or cribs. | Statewide | Bangor |
| Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Disorders Association – Maine Chapter* | $16,500 | To support a 24/7 Helpline, which provides information, referrals, and in-depth care consultations for families navigating dementia with a loved one. | Statewide | Scarborough |
| Amistad | $20,000 | To provide general operating support. | Kennebec, Cumberland, Sagadahoc, Lincoln | Portland |
| Androscoggin Head Start and Child Care DBA Promise Early Education Center | $9,000 | To provide Promise Food Pantry families with needed non-food items that are not covered by state benefits, such as hygiene items, paper products, diapers, cooking utensils, etc. | Androscoggin | Lewiston |
| Aroostook Area Agency on Aging* | $20,000 | To support the use of the online Elder Law Risk Detector tool to screen for and prevent the abuse, neglect, and exploitation of older Aroostook County individuals, including those with disabilities. | Aroostook | Presque Isle |
| Aroostook County Action Program | $15,000 | To support the Family Safety Program, which works to increase safety in the homes of low-income families with young children throughout Aroostook County. | Aroostook | Presque Isle |
| Ascentria Community Services | $15,000 | To provide individuals with a mental health diagnosis who are served by Ascentria Community Mental Health Services in Maine, with financial assistance to meet their immediate basic needs – to include rental assistance, transportation, and help with groceries or utilities. | Androscoggin, Franklin, Oxford | Worcester |
| Augusta Food Bank | $18,000 | To provide general operating support. | Kennebec | Augusta |
| Bangor Area Homeless Shelter | $15,000 | To provide general operating support. | Statewide, Penobscot | Bangor |
| Bath Housing Development Corporation* | $20,000 | To support direct service programming for older residents and those with disabilities in three specific areas: transportation, food security and digital literacy. | Sagadahoc | Bath |
| Belfast Soup Kitchen | $15,000 | To provide general operating support. | Waldo | Belfast |
| Boothbay Region Community Resource Council | $15,000 | To provide general operating support. | Lincoln | Boothbay Harbor |
| Boys And Girls Club Of Kennebec Valley* | $10,000 | To support programming, meals, and services for older adults in southern Kennebec County who participate in the Oldies but Goodies program. | Kennebec | Gardiner |
| Bridging the Gap – Emmanuel Lutheran Episcopal Church | $15,000 | To provide general operating support for the Bridging the Gap program. | Kennebec, Somerset | Augusta |
| Caring Unlimited | $15,000 | To provide general operating support. | York | Sanford |
| Castine Community Partners Inc. | $15,000 | To support the Castine Area Relief Fund, which provides weekly grocery delivery to those in need to address food insecurity in the broader Castine area. | Hancock | Castine |
| Catholic Charities Maine* | $20,000 | To support the Maine SEARCH (Seek Elderly Alone, Renew Courage & Hope) Program, which pairs vulnerable older Mainers with a caring volunteer who provides individualized support. | Statewide | Portland |
| Center for a Green Future dba Growing to Give | $7,500 | To provide general operating support to Growing to Give. | Cumberland, Androscoggin, Sagadahoc | Brunswick |
| Centre Street Congregational Church, UCC – FS to Machias Area Food Pantry | $20,000 | To provide general operating support to Machias Area Food Pantry. | Washington | Machias |
| CHiP, Inc.* | $10,000 | To provide general operating support. | Lincoln | Newcastle |
| Coastal Rivers Conservation Trust / Twin Villages Foodbank Farm | $20,000 | To provide general operating support to Twin Villages Foodbank Farm. | Lincoln | Damariscotta |
| Common Unity Place | $8,500 | To provide general operating support. | Somerset | Skowhegan |
| Community Compass – FS Downeast Community Partners | $15,000 | To provide general operating support for Community Compass. | Hancock | Ellsworth |
| Community Health and Counseling Services* | $25,000 | To purchase monitoring units and alarmed medication dispensers to allow older Mainers with chronic health needs to better monitor their conditions and remain independent in their homes. | Statewide | Bangor |
| Day One | $25,000 | To bring a youth-centered substance use and mental health program, currently offered at Preble Street Youth Center, to Lewiston – to be located at New Beginnings, a local shelter serving homeless youth. | Androscoggin | South Portland |
| Eastern Area Agency on Aging* | $20,000 | To support a nutritious meals program – including home delivery and congregate dining options – for low-income, older adults in Hancock, Penobscot, Piscataquis, and Washington counties. | Hancock, Washington, Piscataquis, Penobscot | Brewer |
| Elder Abuse Institute Of Maine* | $20,000 | To provide general operating support. | Statewide | Brunswick |
| Ellsworth Free Medical Clinic | $15,000 | To provide general operating support. | Statewide | Ellsworth |
| Family Violence Project | $25,000 | To support the Emergency Stabilization Program, which provides secure emergency housing, food, and transportation to those going through domestic abuse, stalking, or human trafficking situations. | Kennebec, Somerset | Augusta |
| Freeport Community Services* | $15,000 | To support the Age Friendly Freeport & Pownal program’s efforts to increase and expand older residents’ access to local food programs and to offer local classes to increase mobility and improve health. | Cumberland | Freeport |
| Friends in Action* | $12,000 | To provide general operating support. | Hancock | Ellsworth |
| Gateway Community Services Maine | $15,000 | To provide general operating support. | Cumberland, Androscoggin | Portland |
| Greater Portland Family Promise | $10,000 | To support homelessness prevention and housing stabilization programming, specifically the provision of case management and housing mentorship for the first year of participant families’ tenancy. | Cumberland | Portland |
| Habitat for Humanity/7 Rivers Maine* | $10,000 | To provide low-income older Mainers with critical home repairs and modifications to prevent displacement from their homes. | Cumberland, Sagadahoc, Lincoln | Topsham |
| Hand in Hand, Mano en Mano | $20,000 | To provide general operating support. | Hancock, Washington | Milbridge |
| Harrison Food Bank | $10,000 | To provide general operating support. | Cumberland, Androscoggin, Oxford | Harrison |
| Healthy Acadia | $20,000 | To support the Downeast Gleaning Initiative, which harvests surplus food and redistributes it to food pantries and other food security organizations across Hancock and Washington counties. | Hancock, Washington | Ellsworth |
| Healthy Peninsula* | $12,000 | To support the coordination of Simmering Pot Meal Delivery’s free, weekly meals – to include meal recipient sign-up, volunteer kitchens, food donations, and volunteer drivers – to food insecure, isolated community members on the Blue Hill Peninsula. | Hancock | Blue Hill |
| Hope Acts | $20,000 | To provide general operating support. | Cumberland | Portland |
| In Her Presence | $10,000 | To provide general operating support. | Cumberland | Westbrook |
| Island Commons Resource Center | $10,000 | To support an in-home care program for older Mainers with limited fixed incomes living on Chebeague Island, other Casco Bay islands, and adjacent mainland communities. | Cumberland | Chebeague Island |
| Jewish Community Alliance of Southern Maine | $15,000 | To support the purchase of diapers for the Klahr Jewish Family Services Diaper Pantry. | Cumberland, Sagadahoc, York | Portland |
| KidsPeace National Centers of New England, Inc. | $5,000 | To support “Mo’s Closet,” which offers essential items to families in need being served in community-based programs, to foster youth coming into care, and to families who need assistance preparing for the placement of foster youth. | Cumberland, York | South Portland |
| Knox County Homeless Coalition | $15,000 | To provide general operating support. | Knox, Lincoln, Waldo | Rockland |
| KVCC Foundation | $15,000 | To support the KVCC Food Pantry’s shift from stocking mostly dry goods to offering perishable fresh produce, meat, and dairy items and to fund a part-time, one year food pantry coordinator to grow the capacity of the program. | Knox, Kennebec, Waldo, Somerset | Fairfield |
| Lake Region Senior Service* | $12,000 | To support a volunteer-based transportation service in Western Maine that provides rides to medical appointments for individuals without other transportation options. | Cumberland, Androscoggin, Oxford, York | Bridgton |
| Legal Services for the Elderly* | $20,000 | To support the Legal Helpline, which provides aid to older Mainers facing legal problems in areas such as housing, consumer debt, public benefits, access to health care and safety. | Statewide | Augusta |
| Loaves and Fishes Food Pantry | $15,000 | To provide general operating support. . | Hancock | Ellsworth |
| Locker Project | $15,000 | To provide general operating support. | Cumberland | Portland |
| Mabel Wadsworth Women’s Health Center | $25,000 | To provide essential health care to low income Mainers to address immediate needs related to physical and mental health. | Washington, Aroostook, Penobscot | Bangor |
| Maine Immigrants Rights Coalition | $25,000 | To provide culturally appropriate foods to asylum-seeker arrivals sheltered temporarily in seven Portland-area motels. | Statewide | Portland |
| Maine Medical Center | $25,000 | To support a basic needs fund for in-need patients of the Women’s Health Center at Maine Medical Center, | Cumberland | Portland |
| Maine Needs | $15,000 | To provide general operating support. | Statewide | Portland |
| Maine Seacoast Mission | $15,000 | To provide healthy food through a pantry and various other food-security programs, along with coordinated wrap-around services, to low-income youth, families and seniors in Washington County. | Washington | Northeast Harbor |
| MaineGeneral Medical Center | $25,000 | To support the basic needs of Addiction Medicine Practice’s patients by providing emergency food bags, transportation vouchers, hygiene products, and treatment resources. | Kennebec, Somerset | Augusta |
| MaineHealth Care At Home* | $25,000 | To provide telehealth equipment to homebound and ill older Mainers to improve their safety and independence at home and to connect them more effectively with the health system. | Statewide | Saco |
| MCH, Inc.* | $20,000 | To support the Meals on Wheels ‘Home to ME’ program, which provides nutritious meals, regular personal communication, and modest practical living supports to food-insecure seniors and adults with disabilities in Knox County. | Knox | Rockland |
| Medical Care Development / Healthy Lincoln County | $25,000 | To support the work of the Food Security Community Connector, to increase the reach, coordination, food procurement and dissemination, and effectiveness of food security programs in Lincoln County. | Lincoln | Damariscotta |
| Mid Coast Hunger Prevention Program | $15,000 | To provide general operating support. | Cumberland, Androscoggin, Sagadahoc, Lincoln | Brunswick |
| Milestone Foundation | $25,000 | To provide general operating support. | Cumberland, York | Portland |
| Neighbors Driving Neighbors* | $10,000 | To provide general operating support. | Kennebec | Mt. Vernon |
| New Beginnings | $15,000 | To provide general operating support. | Kennebec, Androscoggin, Statewide, Franklin | Lewiston |
| New England Arab American Organization | $20,000 | To provide New Mainer families with necessary emergency assistance – to include help with housing expenses, food, utility payments, and transportation – along with case management to strengthen their safety net and connection to resources. | Kennebec, Cumberland, York | Portland |
| Oasis Free Clinics | $15,000 | To provide general operating support. | Cumberland, Androscoggin, Sagadahoc | Brunswick |
| Oxford Hills Community Gardens – Foothills Foodworks | $15,000 | To support Foothills Foodworks, which pays community members a fair wage to make meals which are then provided to food insecure Oxford and Cumberland County residents. | Cumberland, Oxford | Norway |
| Penobscot Community Health Care | $25,000 | To support the Theresa Bray Knowles Gaps in Care Fund, which covers critical items and services that can not funded through other sources for patients of 17 health care organizations. | Statewide | Bangor |
| Piscataquis Regional Food Center* | $15,000 | To provide general operating support. | Piscataquis, Penobscot | Dover Foxcroft |
| Portland Area Villages (PAV)* | $10,000 | To provide general operating support. | Cumberland | Portland |
| Rangeley Health and Wellness* | $20,000 | To support the Helping Elders Live in Place (HELP) program, which offers older Mainers quality supports and services that address their immediate basic needs. | Franklin, Oxford | Rangeley |
| Rockland District Nursing Association* | $20,000 | To provide general operating support. | Knox | Rockland |
| Rural Community Action Ministry | $17,000 | To provide general operating support. | Kennebec, Androscoggin, Oxford | Leeds |
| Saint Andre Home | $15,000 | To support the “Empowerment Pantry”, which provides healthy food, supplies, and household items – along with related housing support services – to survivors of human trafficking, exploitation, and related domestic and sexual violence and their families. | Statewide | Bangor |
| SeniorsPlus* | $20,000 | To support the Meals on Wheels program in Western Maine, fighting hunger and social isolation and providing a match for federal funding for the program. | Androscoggin, Franklin, Oxford | Lewiston |
| Shalom House | $15,000 | 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, York | Portland |
| Southern Maine Agency on Aging* | $20,000 | To support SMAA’s Nutrition Assistance Program, which provides free, nutritious meals to older adults in Cumberland and York Counties through both home-delivered meals and in congregate dining settings. | Cumberland, York | Biddeford |
| St. Joseph Hospital | $25,000 | To improve food security in adults with chronic disease who are identified while patients at St. Joseph Hospital. | Piscataquis, Penobscot | Bangor |
| Tedford Housing | $20,000 | To provide general operating support. | Cumberland, Androscoggin, Sagadahoc, Lincoln | Brunswick |
| The Opportunity Alliance* | $20,000 | To support the Senior Companion Program, which creates volunteer opportunities for older, low-income adults who make home visits and provide transportation to peers seeking assistance to remain living independently. | Cumberland, York | South Portland |
| The Root Cellar | $25,000 | To support Mainely Teeth’s work providing dental care to uninsured and underinsured individuals. | Statewide | Lewiston |
| The Shaw House | $15,000 | To provide general operating support. | Statewide | Bangor |
| Through These Doors (formerly Family Crisis Services) | $15,000 | To support a basic needs fund, which provides survivors of domestic violence and their children with items and resources such as food, clothing, shelter, medical expenses, transportation, diapers, formula, car seats, childcare expenses, etc. | Cumberland | Portland |
| Town of Danforth, Maine* | $18,500 | To provide older adults in the greater Danforth area with free and nutritious meals, increased social opportunities, and no-cost transportation options. | Washington, Aroostook, Penobscot | Danforth |
| Town of Mount Vernon Aging in Place Committee* | $6,800 | To support the Respite/Adult Day Program, serving older Mainers in the towns of Fayette, Mount Vernon and Vienna. | Kennebec | Mount Vernon |
| Town of Vinalhaven* | $7,200 | To support energy audits and air sealing in the homes of low-income older island residents. | Knox | Vinalhaven |
| Trinity Jubilee Center | $15,000 | To provide general operating support. | Androscoggin | Lewiston |
| Veggies to Table | $10,000 | To provide general operating support. | Lincoln | Newcastle |
| Volunteers of America Northern New England | $25,000 | To support a Community Coordinator, who helps veterans access the benefits they deserve and services they need so they may maintain and achieve health, financial, and housing independence. | Kennebec, Statewide, York | Brunswick |
| Waterville Area Soup Kitchen | $15,000 | To provide general operating support. | Kennebec, Statewide | Waterville |
| Western Maine Community Action* | $20,000 | To support direct client funding for home repairs that will allow older adults in Franklin County to age in place in homes that are warm, safe and fuel efficient. | Franklin | East Wilton |
| York County Community Action Corporation* | $20,000 | To support the Keeping Seniors Home program, which provides older homeowners in York County with small-to-mid-sized home modifications to allow them to safely remain living at home. | York | Sanford |
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. Based in Portland, the Foundation advances and invests in innovative ideas and opportunities that improve the lives of Maine’s most vulnerable people.
