Nonprofit organizations across Maine are dealing with unprecedented challenges providing safe space, child care, housing, food, and other basic needs. These six organizations are adapting to changing circumstances with determination.
SOCIAL SERVICES
Community Concepts, Lewiston
Safe space for people without homes in Lewiston and keeping connections with Head Start families were priorities – and immediate challenges – when the pandemic landed in Community Concepts’ backyard. The large nonprofit, which serves people in Western Maine, moved into high gear with support that included a flexible MaineCF grant.
Within 13 days, its staff had worked with the city, MaineHousing, and other local partners to open a 60-bed wellness shelter at Lewiston’s armory. It has been at or near capacity since it opened in late April. A 25-person staff, hired in only five days, is keeping those who are healthy housed and identifying people with symptoms to be tested and directed to additional services. “And it’s working. I’m absolutely convinced,” says Shawn Yardley, the nonprofit’s CEO.
Community Concepts’ staff also is ferrying food and diapers to families shut off from resources when the state’s largest Head Start program closed during the crisis.
“Families are isolated during this time,” Yardley says. “I think the best and most important thing that we do is an affirmation that we haven’t forgotten them, and they’re still connected.”
HEALTH & SAFETY
New Hope for Women, Midcoast
Isolation and the consequent need for remote services that maintain client privacy were a significant challenge during the pandemic. New Hope for Women (NHFW) continued to provide a 24-hour help line in Sagadahoc, Lincoln, Knox, and Waldo counties despite staff and volunteers working from home; implemented a chat service to meet the needs of those who prefer this option or who find this option safer due to nearby abusers; and arranged for sheltering with local lodging sites.
Maine Community Foundation grant monies are assisting with technology costs that allow NHFW to provide advocacy through remote and secure means. NHFW believes that hatred and marginalization of any sort are at the root of social justice issues such as domestic violence, dating violence, and stalking.
CHILD CARE
Bangor Region YMCA
Family. That’s what Diane Dickerson, CEO of the Bangor Region YMCA, focuses on when she reflects on current and future challenges to her organization. The Y serves more than 12,000 people, from babies to 102-year-olds, and many of them rely on it for health, wellness, socialization, education, food, and much more. “To separate this family of ours is very difficult,” says Dickerson.
That sense of family came to the fore this spring. Designated as an Emergency Care Center during the pandemic, Y staff has been caring for the children of health care workers, first responders, and other essential workers. “We are able to protect and provide care during this difficult time, which helps relieve some of the stress,” Dickerson notes. “They [the frontline workers] know their children are in a nurturing, loving environment and having the time of their lives.”
“Our Emergency Child Care Program has been rapidly growing every week as more parents are required to go back to work,” Dickerson reports. Their focus will continue on keeping children safe and teaching the Y’s core values: honesty, caring, respect, and responsibility. It’s all about family.
HOUSING
Emmaus Homeless Shelter, Ellsworth
“I am unsure that I can narrow [the challenges of COVID-19] down to one thing really,” says Stacey Herrick, director of the Emmaus Homeless Shelter. “If I had to put one word on it, I would say ‘adapting.’”
Protocol changes and implementations have sometimes made it difficult to keep up during the pandemic, says Herrick, but she’s proud of how residents, staff, and community have shown their support. The shelter staff was “ahead of the game,” she says, wearing masks and installing plexiglass shields before stores and other public places put these precautions in place.
The shelter also shifted its programs to provide social distancing. It now offers food delivery for those unable to get to the facility. And while staff had to close its Free Clothing Room, they have arranged to have items picked up outside.
Finding housing for the homeless remains a priority. “We have signed leases via Zoom and looked at apartments just as we always have, with the same sense of urgency,” Herrick says. More than ever, the organization, founded in 1992, stands by its mission: to provide a safe and comfortable environment for homeless men, women, and families in Hancock and Washington counties.
FOOD
Feeding Mainers, Houlton and Richmond
The pandemic has exacerbated food insecurity in Maine. As many nonprofit organizations found their resources depleted, they shifted operations to meet new demands.
The crisis led to some innovative alliances. Adopt-a-Block of Aroostook, which supplies food, clothing, and furniture to those in need in the Houlton community, partnered with Catholic Charities and Good Shepherd Food Bank. They worked with 20 volunteer drivers to provide five tons of food to families in one month.
The Richmond Area Food Pantry, which is committed to reducing hunger in Richmond, Dresden, and Bowdoinham, saw a 40% increase in their clientele since March. “We were running out of food pretty quickly,” Janette Sweem, food pantry director, reported in early June. A MaineCF grant helped to ease their worries about how they’d manage to stock their shelves “for months to come.”
Photo: Storytime at the Bangor Region YMCA for children of essential workers. Photo courtesy Bangor Region YMCA
