The John T. Gorman Foundation recently announced its 2022 Direct Services Grants, awarding a total of $1.5 million to 90 organizations who are addressing the immediate needs of vulnerable Mainers in all 16 counties — 31 of those grants went to programs specifically serving older adults. We are incredibly grateful to all of these grantees for meeting an unprecedented level of demand for food, shelter, and other forms of assistance at this difficult time. Learn more about all of their efforts below. (*Denotes a grant to serve older Mainers.)
Adoptive and Foster Families of Maine, Inc. (Bangor): $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.
Aroostook Area Agency on Aging (Presque Isle): $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 County Action Program (Presque Isle): $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.
Ascentria Community Services (Worcester): $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.
Augusta Food Bank (Augusta): $18,000 to provide general operating support.
Bath Housing Development Corporation* (Bath): $20,000 to support direct service programming for older residents and those with disabilities in three specific areas: transportation, food security and digital literacy.
Boys And Girls Club Of Kennebec Valley (Gardiner): $10,000 to support programming, meals, and services for older adults in southern Kennebec County who participate in the Oldies but Goodies program.
Caring Unlimited (Sanford): $15,000 to provide general operating support.
Castine Community Partners Inc. (Castine): $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.
Catholic Charities Maine* (Portland): $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.
Community Health and Counseling Services* (Bangor): $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.
Day One (South Portland): $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.
Eastern Area Agency on Aging* (Brewer): $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.
Family Violence Project (Augusta): $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.
Freeport Community Services* (Freeport): $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.
Friends in Action* (Ellsworth): $12,000 to provide general operating support.
Greater Portland Family Promise (Portland): $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.
Habitat for Humanity/7 Rivers Maine* (topsham): $10,000 to provide low-income older Mainers with critical home repairs and modifications to prevent displacement from their homes.
Harrison Food Bank (Harrison): $10,000 to provide general operating support.
Healthy Acadia (Ellsworth): $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.
Healthy Peninsula* (Blue Hill): $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.
Hope Acts (Portland): $20,000 to provide general operating support.
In Her Presence (Westbrook): $10,000 to provide general operating support.
Island Commons Resource Center* (Chebeague Island): $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.
KidsPeace National Centers of New England, Inc. (South Portland): $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.
KVCC Foundation (Fairfield): $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.
Lake Region Senior Service* (Bridgton): $12,000 to support a volunteer-based transportation service in Western Maine that provides rides to medical appointments for individuals without other transportation options.
Legal Services for the Elderly* (Augusta): $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.
Locker Project (Portland): $15,000 to provide general operating support.
Mabel Wadsworth Women’s Health Center (Bangor): $25,000 to provide essential health care to low income Mainers to address immediate needs related to physical and mental health.
Maine Immigrants Rights Coalition (Portland): $25,000 to provide culturally appropriate foods to asylum-seeker arrivals sheltered temporarily in seven Portland-area motels.
Maine Medical Center (Portland): $25,000 to support a basic needs fund for in-need patients of the Women’s Health Center at Maine Medical Center.
Maine Needs (Portland): $15,000 to provide general operating support.
Maine Seacoast Mission (Northeast Harbor): $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.
MaineGeneral Medical Center (Augusta): $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.
MaineHealth Care At Home* (Saco): $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.
MCH, Inc.* (Rockland): $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.
Medical Care Development / Healthy Lincoln County (Damariscotta): $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.
New Beginnings (Lewiston): $15,000 to provide general operating support.
New England Arab American Organization (Portland): $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.
Oasis Free Clinics (Brunswick): $15,000 to provide general operating support.
Oxford Hills Community Gardens – Foothills Foodworks (Norway): $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.
Penobscot Community Health Care (Bangor): $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.
Rangeley Health and Wellness* (Rangeley): $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.
Saint Andre Home (Bangor): $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.
SeniorsPlus* (Lewiston): $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.
Shalom House (Portland): $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.
Southern Maine Agency on Aging* (Biddeford): $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.
St. Joseph Hospital (Bangor): $25,000 to improve food security in adults with chronic disease who are identified while patients at St. Joseph Hospital.
Tedford Housing (Brunswick): $20,000 to provide general operating support.
The Opportunity Alliance* (South Portland): $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.
The Root Cellar (Lewiston): $25,000 to support Mainely Teeth’s work providing dental care to uninsured and underinsured individuals.
The Shaw House (Bangor): $15,000 to provide general operating support.
Through These Doors (formerly Family Crisis Services) (Portland): $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.
Town of Danforth, Maine* (Danforth): $18,500 to provide older adults in the greater Danforth area with free and nutritious meals, increased social opportunities, and no-cost transportation options.
Town of Mount Vernon Aging in Place Committee* (Mount Vernon): $6,800 to support the Respite/Adult Day Program, serving older Mainers in the towns of Fayette, Mount Vernon and Vienna.
Town of Vinalhaven* (Vinalhaven): $7,200 to support energy audits and air sealing in the homes of low-income older island residents.
Veggies to Table (Newcastle): $10,000 to provide general operating support.
Volunteers of America Northern New England (Brunswick): $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.
Western Maine Community Action* (East Wilton): $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.
York County Community Action Corporation* (Sanford): $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.
