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MWGT Member Profile: Jane Cabot

June 24, 2021

MWGT Co-Founder Judy Woodman, left, and 2020-2021 President Jane Cabot

For a Mainer, meeting First Lady Rosalynn Carter was like “a Yankee coming down in the middle of King Arthur’s Court,” recalled Jane Fenderson Cabot, president of the Maine Women’s Giving Tree. But Plains, Ga., wasn’t quite as glamorous as the mythical Camelot.
Cabot had driven to Plains on the second day of her new job as director of scheduling for Jimmy Carter’s wife. “She met me at the door beautifully coifed and made up.” And the First Lady also was barefoot and wearing jeans. “She was having her official campaign portrait taken” from the waist up, Cabot said with a laugh.

The Saco native was in charge of Rosalynn Carter’s White House appointments calendar and arranged all of her domestic and international travel during the four years President Jimmy Carter was in office, starting in 1977. Hardly a newcomer to national politics, Cabot had worked for 11 years as a legislative aide to Maine U.S. Sen. Edmund Muskie.

Cabot and her husband, Edward, in 2015 retired full time to Harpswell where they had summered for years on property that had been owned by her grandparents. Ned Cabot died three years ago. Her jet-setting days now mostly behind her, Jane Cabot has turned her sights on volunteer work and recently is president of the Maine Women’s Giving Tree.

MWGT has donated almost $400,000 to local organizations since its founding more than a decade ago. Its 75 women members pool their philanthropic dollars to support initiatives that improve the quality of life for women, children and families in Arrowsic, Bath, Brunswick, Harpswell, Topsham, Freeport, Phippsburg, West Bath, Woolwich and Wiscasset. By combining their funds, members said they make a greater impact in MidCoast than they would as individual donors.

This year, MWGT awarded $60,000 in grants to 10 nonprofits, including Elder Abuse Institute of Maine, Midcoast Community Alliance, Mid Coast Hunger Prevention Program, Midcoast Literacy, Oasis Free Clinic, Sweetser, Telford Housing, The Emergency Action Network, The Gathering Place, and Wayfinder Schools.

“In some ways it’s the most rewarding job because it’s hands-on. It’s a volunteer job and we’re doing what we hope are good things for the whole community,” Cabot said. While MWGT work is gratifying for Cabot, it’s not quite as heady as having her own office in the White House, traveling abroad with Rosalynn Carter or running into former boss Sen. Muskie and Vice President Hubert Humphrey in the Rose Garden.

Cabot started working for Maine’s Sen. Muskie during summers when she was a student at Mount Holyoke College and joined his staff full time after graduation. In the 1968 vice presidential election Cabot was on Muskie’s campaign plane fact checking for the candidate. “It was a great experience,” she said.

But when Rosalynn Carter called, Cabot was ready for a change.

Carter was one of the first in her role as First Lady to take substantive trips to meet with heads of states instead of traditional visits to hospitals and schools. “She was so well briefed she won them over.”

In one trip, Cabot talked to an official at an experimental farm in Peru where potatoes, which originated in South America, were grown. “When he started to talk, I said, ‘Where in Maine are you from? He was from Aroostook County.”

Cabot remained friends with Sen. Muskie and his family. One of her most vivid memories was in 1978 when Muskie was walking through the White House’s Rose Garden with Vice President Hubert Humphrey. Cabot had been making her way from the West Wing to her office in the East Wing through the Rose Garden when she saw them. “Oh Jane,” Muskie said, and turned to Humphrey. “You remember, Jane.” Of course he did, he said, although Cabot is sure he had no idea who she was. But that memory remains “such a wonderful picture” for her because it was shortly before Humphrey died.

When President Carter lost his re-election bid, Jane married Edward Cabot, part of the extended Boston Cabot family, and the couple moved to New York. Ned Cabot was formerly a liberal Republican who ran Sen. Jacob Javits’ New York office. Her husband later succeeded Archibald Cox as national chairman of Common Cause and taught law and public policy at Yale, New York University and Trinity College. She convinced him to retire in Harpswell. “Ned loved this place as much as I did,” she said. They tore down the old cottage and built a new house.

While in New York, Jane Cabot ran the non-profit sector of M Booth and Associates, a public relations firm. “Perfect on-the-job training for the Maine Women’s Giving Tree,” she said.

“These are exciting times to be able to be of assistance to those organizations within our community,” Cabot said. “One of our very first MWGT grants went to the Back Pack school program in Harpswell. It is still a viable program and serves nearly every school in the area.”

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Membership in the Maine Women’s Giving Tree informs me about the needs of my community through discussion with professionals most directly concerned with the protections and care of its citizens.

It is a great privilege to meet these trained, experienced and effective individuals whose commitment, courage, and generosity strengthen us all in our resolve to help.

Katherine Watson
MWGT Member

When we began the Maine Women’s Giving Tree in 209, we felt that the idea of a ‘giving circle’ was a good match for our community. With friends reaching out to friends, our dreams for the success and growth of the organization have exceeded our expectations. This is a group of group of women who truly care and are willing to support their desire to make a difference in other people’s lives with hard work and on-going financial commitment.

Sandra Neiman & Judy Woodman
MWGT Co-Founders

You are a grain of rice. You come together with other grains of rice, and it becomes a bowl of rice, and that is how we feed.

Ana L. Oliver
New York Women’s Foundation (The New York Times 11/7/13)

Clients are truly thankful for diapers. They get so excited when we roll out a cart full of groceries (because we are still doing a curb side pick-up). As much as they need the food, it is the diapers that make them cry.

Kim Gates
Bath Area Food Bank - United Way Diaper Project, MWGT Grantee

A favorite story of this project is that whenever there were children on the farm our farm manager would do a ‘farm testing’ –  taking the kids around the fields to pick and eat fresh veggies. One day she said to a little boy “would you like to try some spinach?” His dad was behind him and shook his head and said “he won’t eat spinach”. The little boy ate the spinach and said, “that was great, can I have some more?!”

Growing To Give
MWGT Grantee

“If it wasn’t for HAH, I would not be able to remain in my home. The Meals in a Pinch was a godsend. They helped so much.”

“I was sitting here thinking everyone had forgotten me and you show up with this food. It made my day.”

Harpswell Residents
Harpswell Aging at Home, MWGT Grantee

I was fortunate to be one of the drivers who served a client both from the VTN [Volunteer Transportation Network] and Meals on Wheels programs in Brunswick. She lives alone and unfortunately fell and did serious damage to her shoulder. After the accident she was unable to drive. We were able to provide her rides for her surgery to repair her shoulder and follow-up appointments with her surgeon. I recommended the Meals delivery program after she returned home, since she still wouldn’t be able to drive for a while. She signed up and used it very successfully through her rehab. She has completed enough rehab that she is back driving and is now a driver herself! She is back to full independent living. Seems like this is exactly the kind of thing that the VTN is intended to accomplish.

People Plus
MWGT Grantee

I am grateful that I am part of a community who gets to love and care for others. I am grateful for all who come to The Gathering Place, who give their heart to help my family. At The Gathering Place everyone is treated with respect and acceptance, regardless of where we are on our journey.

Charlene Matts
A longtime friend to The Gathering Place, MWGT Grantee

After fleeing a domestic violence situation, Cathy reached out to Tedford for help with housing. Tedford assisted Cathy in accessing a rapid-rehousing voucher with Maine Housing and then finding an apartment in Brunswick for her and her grade-school son. Due to the COVID pandemic, Cathy has struggled with obtaining and maintaining safe employment opportunities and has had little income to support her son’s academic needs going into the 2020-2021 school year. The Walmart gift card provided by the funding allowed Cathy to purchase some school supplies that her son needed for school that Cathy was previously unsure of how she was going to be pay for before being offered the gift card. After using the gift card, when Cathy provided the receipt, she wrote that her son “was so excited and got a lot of new things he desperately needed for school. I can’t say thanks enough!!

Tedford Housing
MWGT Grantee

You have no idea how relieved my sister, brother, and I are  because of the work you’re doing on Mom’s home. None of us had any way to fix the mold problem that’s  been putting her in the hospital, so we’ve been pushing her really hard for a long time to move somewhere  else because we don’t want to lose her. And I’m sure she already told you, she doesn’t ever want to move  out of her home here. So she’s been really irritated at the three of us, which is very upsetting for all of us.  With all the work you’ve done to keep the mold out of the house, Mom’s health is getting a lot better. So we  stopped pushing her to move, and she’s not irritated with us anymore. It’s wonderful! And with all the  insulation you’re putting in, she’ll be able to keep her home warm in the winter, so that makes us feel even  better about her staying here. I can’t tell you how much we appreciate all you and your team are doing for  Mom. Sincere thanks to all of you.

Daughter of widow helped by Habitat for Humanity Seven Rivers Maine
MWGT Grantee

“The MCHPP [boxes] plus the bagged breakfast/lunches were incredible for everyone.”

“My two children always have enough to eat, which has become more difficult due to decreased income.”

“We appreciate all the help! Times are hard and you all at MCHPP have helped take some of my worries away! Food is increasingly expensive but your meal packs have helped so much.”

“It has been a huge blessing getting the food boxes at the bus pickup!”

“This food helped with our monthly budget. It has helped us at least 30% of our monthly food budget.”

Families supported by Mid Coast Hunger Prevention Program
MWGT Grantee
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