Grants will help 79 nonprofits in all of Maine’s 16 counties provide food, housing, and other essential services
PORTLAND, Maine – The John T. Gorman Foundation has awarded 79 grants totaling $1.5 million to provide food, shelter, and other essential services to Mainers in need through its 2024 Direct Services Grant Program.
“The latest numbers show that 42% of Maine households do not earn high enough incomes to cover essential living costs – that includes a third of Maine families with children. The record number of applications we received for this year’s Direct Services Grant Program reflects that incredible need for assistance in securing essentials like food and housing,” said Jennifer Beck, Vice President of Programs for the John T. Gorman Foundation. “With this year’s Direct Services grants, the John T. Gorman Foundation is privileged to be able to strengthen the efforts of nonprofit organizations across the state who are stepping in to fill those unmet needs in our communities.”
This year, the Foundation awarded half of its Direct Services Grants to organizations focused on food insecurity and housing needs. Additional grants went to fund initiatives that provide health care, legal aid, language assistance, transportation, sexual assault and domestic violence support, and other services.
The Foundation would like to thank all the nonprofit organizations who applied for this year’s Direct Services Grant Program. A list of 2024 grantees is below.
| Organization | Location | Grant Amount | Grant Description |
| Area Interfaith Outreach | Rockland | $15,000 | To provide food, diapers, and fuel assistance to help families in Knox County. |
| Aroostook Area Agency on Aging | Presque Isle | $20,000 | To support Home Delivered Meals for Older Adults. |
| Bangor Area Homeless Shelter | Bangor | $20,000 | To provide general operating support. |
| Bethel Area District Exchange and Food Pantry | Bethel | $10,000 | To provide general operating support. |
| Caring Unlimited | Sanford | $20,000 | To provide general operating support. |
| Catholic Charities Maine | Portland | $20,000 | To support the Seek Elderly Alone, Renew Courage and Hope (SEARCH) program. |
| Center for the Advancement of Rural Living | Caribou | $20,000 | To support the County Area Ride Service (CARS) Program, a volunteer driver program to cover isolated areas of Aroostook County. |
| CHiP, Inc. | Newcastle | $10,000 | To provide general operating support. |
| commonspace (formerly Amistad) | Portland | $15,000 | To provide general operating support. |
| Community Care | Bangor | $30,000 | To support Community Care’s Shaw House Housing Program for youth experiencing homelessness. |
| Community Dental | Portland | $20,000 | To support the Access to Oral Healthcare Program, helping provide dental care while improving affordability for those experiencing poverty. |
| Day One | Windham | $20,000 | To support clients referred in Lewiston, engaging youth through a harm reduction low barrier approach to access essential services. |
| Eastern Area Agency on Aging | Brewer | $25,000 | To support the provision of healthy, home-delivered meals to homebound older adults in eastern Maine, mitigating food insecurity and improving health and community connection. |
| Emmanuel Lutheran Episcopal Church – Bridging the Gap | Augusta | $15,000 | To support the Bridging the Gap program. |
| Family Planning Association of Maine | Augusta | $15,000 | To support the Caring Hands Fund. |
| First Congregational Church of Waterville, Maine / Waterville Area Essentials Closet | Waterville | $15,000 | To provide funding for the Waterville Area Essentials Closet. |
| FootPrints Food Pantry | Kittery | $20,000 | To provide general operating support. |
| Friends in Action | Ellsworth | $15,000 | To provide general operating support. |
| Greater Portland Family Promise | Portland | $20,000 | To provide general operating support. |
| Hand in Hand, Mano en Mano | Milbridge | $30,000 | To provide general operating support. |
| Harrison Food Bank | Harrison | $10,000 | To provide general operating support. |
| Healthy Acadia | Ellsworth | $15,000 | To support increased food access and food justice in Washington and Hancock counties. |
| Homeless Services of Aroostook Inc. | Presque Isle | $30,000 | To provide general operating support. |
| Ifka Community Services | Lewiston | $5,000 | To provide general operating support. |
| Intercultural Community Center | Westbrook | $20,000 | To provide general operating support. |
| Jewish Community Alliance of Southern Maine | Portland | $20,000 | To support supplemental diapering supplies for the Maine Diaper Distribution Demonstration and Research Pilot. |
| Knox County Homeless Coalition | Rockport | $25,000 | To provide general operating support. |
| Lake Region Senior Service | Bridgton | $12,000 | To support the Healthcare Access Transportation Program. |
| Legal Services for Maine Elders | Augusta | $20,000 | To provide general operating support. |
| Loaves and Fishes Food Pantry | Ellsworth | $20,000 | To provide general operating support. |
| Locker Project | Portland | $15,000 | To provide general operating support. |
| Lubec Community Outreach Center | Lubec | $10,000 | To support the purchasing of produce, dairy, and whole food options for Food Pantry and Youth Program meals. |
| Mabel Wadsworth Women’s Health Center | Bangor | $25,000 | To provide general operating support. |
| Machias Area Food Pantry | Machias | $25,000 | To provide general operating support. |
| Maine Association for New Americans | Portland | $25,000 | To support provision of trauma-informed and multilingual transportation to immigrant/refugee families to address health and social disparities by connecting people to health and food resources. |
| Maine Coalition Against Sexual Assault | Augusta | $15,000 | To provide general operating support. |
| Maine Coast Fishermens Association | Brunswick | $25,000 | To support Fishermen Feeding Mainers, enabling fishermen to sell their catch while also addressing food insecurity in Maine. |
| Maine Highlands Senior Center | Dover-Foxcroft | $15,000 | To support the Helping Hands with Heart/Maine Highlands Integrated Response Network Unmet Needs Fund. |
| MaineHealth | Belfast | $15,000 | To support the Belfast Public Health Nursing Association Urgent Needs Fund. |
| Maine Multicultural Center | Bangor | $10,000 | To provide general operating support. |
| Maine Needs | Portland | $15,000 | To provide general operating support. |
| Maine School Administrative District 75 | Topsham | $20,000 | To support Merrymeeting Community Adult Education’s expansion of English language classes including Driver Education for English language learners, and to increase enrollment and student progress by partnering with Midcoast Literacy. |
| Maine Seacoast Mission | Northeast Harbor | $30,000 | To support the Housing Improvement Program. |
| Mainely Teeth dba Mainely Smiles | Portland | $25,000 | To provide general operating support. |
| MCH, Inc. | Rockland | $20,000 | To support the MCH Knox County Meals on Wheels Program, enabling independence at home for food-insecure, older individuals and adults with disabilities. |
| Midcoast Community Alliance | Bath | $20,000 | To support transitional housing for young adult Mainers living in poverty and experiencing homelessness. |
| Mid-Maine Homeless Shelter | Waterville | $30,000 | To provide general operating support. |
| Milestone Recovery | Portland | $25,000 | To provide general operating support. |
| Neighbors Driving Neighbors | Mount Vernon | $12,000 | To provide general operating support. |
| New Beginnings | Lewiston | $20,000 | To provide general operating support. |
| New England Arab American Organization | Portland | $25,000 | To support the Our Bridge program, providing emergency assistance for immediate needs to New Mainer families. |
| New Hope Midcoast | Rockland | $25,000 | To support safe and stable sheltering for survivors of domestic abuse. |
| Next Step Domestic Violence Project | Ellsworth | $20,000 | To provide general operating support. |
| Northern Lighthouse Inc. | Presque Isle | $30,000 | To provide general operating support. |
| Oasis Free Clinics | Brunswick | $25,000 | To provide general operating support. |
| Penobscot Community Health Care | Bangor | $25,000 | To support Helping Hands for Health mini-grants, an extension of the Community Care Partnership of Maine’s Theresa Bray Knowles Gaps in Care Fund. |
| Penquis C.A.P., Inc. | Bangor | $20,000 | To provide housing assistance and basic needs for survivors of human trafficking. |
| Piscataquis Regional Food Center | Dover-Foxcroft | $30,000 | To provide general operating support. |
| Preble Street | Portland | $30,000 | To provide general operating support. |
| Promise Early Education Center | Lewiston | $5,000 | To support the Promise Food Pantry’s supplying of personal hygiene items and cleaning supplies. |
| Rangeley Health and Wellness | Rangeley | $20,000 | To address food insecurity in Northern Franklin and Oxford County by delivering essential food support to vulnerable residents. |
| River Valley Healthy Communities Coalition | Rumford | $10,000 | To provide general operating support for the Old School Food Pantry, a project of River Valley Healthy Communities Coalition. |
| Rural Community Action Ministry | Leeds | $17,000 | To provide general operating support for homeless and hunger prevention services. |
| Safe Voices | Auburn | $30,000 | To support the Emergency Sheltering Project, providing survivors of domestic abuse, sex trafficking, and sexual exploitation in Androscoggin, Franklin, and Oxford Counties with safe shelter. |
| Saint Andre Home | Bangor | $25,000 | To support CourageLIVES in addressing the basic needs of survivors of human trafficking, exploitation, and related abuse and their families. |
| Seeds of Hope Neighborhood Center | Biddeford | $25,000 | To provide general operating support. |
| Southern Maine Agency on Aging | Biddeford | $15,000 | To support case management services to improve the health and wellbeing of vulnerable older adults in Southern Maine. |
| St. Luke Food Pantry | Portland | $10,000 | To provide general operating support. |
| Table of Plenty | Berwick | $10,000 | To provide general operating support. |
| The Drop-in Center | Auburn | $5,000 | To provide general operating support. |
| The Root Cellar | Lewiston | $25,000 | To provide general operating support. |
| Trinity Jubilee Center | Lewiston | $15,000 | To provide general operating support. |
| Unitarian Universalist Association | Sanford | $10,000 | To support Corner Cupboard’s provision of non-food household items such as cleaning supplies and personal hygiene items to families. |
| United Recovery Fund | Portland | $15,000 | To support individuals in early recovery from substance use disorder (SUD) and reentry from jail and prison, through housing, transportation to work, and basic needs such as food and clothing. |
| Unity Barn Raisers | Unity | $15,000 | To provide general operating support to Waldo County Bounty. |
| Veterans Inc. | Worcester | $25,000 | To provide operating support for Veterans Inc.’s Lewiston Maine programming. |
| Wabanaki Public Health and Wellness Inc. | Bangor | $10,000 | To support the purchase of essential supplies for recovery programs and detox residents: clothes, hygiene products, and meals. |
| Waterville Area Soup Kitchen | Waterville | $15,000 | To provide general operating support. |
| Winthrop Food Pantry | Winthrop | $19,000 | To provide general operating support. |
