Brunswick, May 2025 – Sixteen local initiatives benefiting women, children, and families have received a total of $96,000 in grants from the Maine Women’s Giving Tree, a tax-exempt charity based in Brunswick.
Representatives of the non-profit award-winning organizations were honored today at a ceremony held at the Topsham Public Library in Topsham. Since awarding its first grants in 2012, the Giving Tree has contributed nearly $600,000 in grants to dozens of local organizations to support programs benefiting women, children, and families.
We are a group of women with a shared commitment to support outstanding initiatives that benefit women, children and families in the communities where we live,? said Jane Fenderson Cabot of Harpswell, the group’s president. We’re thrilled that our grant awards for 2023 represent the largest annual total amount of giving in our history.
The 16 local grant recipients are:
ArtVan-6,452.47 provides mobile art therapy for transformational healing at no cost to families or youth. Their weekly programming utilizes the art making process as a tool for healing and supports the needs of historically under-resourced communities. ArtVan seeks funding to support and enhance their programming at MidCoast Youth Center (for youth aged 11-14), at the Maritime Apartments in Bath, the Perryman Village in Brunswick (for youth aged 3-17), and for their work with older youth in their ArtVan Artist Xtraordinaire program (AVAX). Last year, these programs served 176 youth.
Bath Area Backpack Program-$ 4,00 provides hungry schoolchildren with access to food on weekends and during vacation, when free school meals are not available. The program began in 2014, in association with the Good Shepherd Food Bank (GSFB), which administers a national backpack program funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The program aims to provide food for approximately 200 children, ages 5-18 in Bath, Woolwich, and Phippsburg public schools.
Freeport Community Services –$4,500 seeks support from MWGT for its food programs, the heart of its services, including a food pantry, backpack program, and summer snack program. FCS noted a dramatic 33% increase in need in 2024. The grant would support food assistance for Freeport children and families, focusing on families at risk for food insecurity.
The Gathering Place–$5,175 to support the Direct Service Delivery Program of the only daytime shelter in Greater Brunswick, helping to ensure that no community member falls through the cracks but receives needed assistance, including emergency housing and healthcare.
Growing to Give -$5,000 requests funding for enhancement to its education and farm donation program. MWGT’s grant will enable Growing to Give, an organic farm in Brunswick, to extend its schedule by offering late afternoon education and volunteer sessions, an additional one to two days per week. This will increase opportunities for experiential learning and attract volunteers who are not available during the current hours of operation. All students and volunteers contribute to vegetable production, which supports and sustains the incorporation of greater diversity, equity, and inclusion into the agricultural and educational programming at the farm.
Habitat for Humanity/7 Rivers-$8070.77 requests funding for supplies and job site costs for its 30- year-old Critical Home Repair program, which coordinates volunteers to perform crucial home maintenance projects, capped at $1500 per home. The program assists income-qualified homeowners, including many elderly, disabled, female head of households and low-income older adults, enabling them to remain in their homes. Habitat’s work makes homes more sustainable, accessible, affordable, safer, and more comfortable for an estimated 100 homeowners.
Harpswell Santa Fund-$5,643.67 assists those in need in Harpswell, primarily through supporting the food pantry run by the Town of Harpswell. They request funds to support a program that began in 2024, to add personal care and household cleaning products to food and supplies available at the town’s food pantry. These items are not otherwise easily available to those in need within the boundaries of Harpswell. The funding would cover the stocking, purchasing, and placing of these products.
Home to Home-$6047.90 requests funding for “Hope for Lisa,” an extension to the Bath areas of its program providing supervised visitation services giving children access to both parents in situations of domestic abuse. H2H’s visitation services enable interactions between adult survivors (custodial and non-custodial parents) and their children in a secure, survivor-centered, confidential environment, enabling parents who have experienced partner violence and abuse to meet safely. The grant will provide partial support for 100 hours of supervised visitation services, 20 transportation scholarships, and 30 hours of court advocacy and education for any family referred by West Bath District Court and serve an estimated 15-25 families or 45 to 100 individuals.
Mawita’nej Epijij -$ 5,000 Mawita’nej Epijij, established in 2018, means welcome to the gathering place in the Mi’kmaq language. Mawita’nej Epijij was founded to build community for Wabanaki people in the Brunswick area and to address the challenges of being distant from tribal reservations. Owing to residential schools and child welfare policies, many Wabanaki people experienced the trauma of being displaced from their tribal communities. Mawita’nej Epijij enables Wabanaki families to gather, support one another, cook and share meals, and practice their traditions. The organization seeks funding to sustain and enhance their monthly program, which provides culturally appropriate and locally grown food. They plan to enrich the program by distributing two books a month related to Wabanaki history, culture, and characters – one for adults and one for children. The organization currently serves 60 individuals and the program is growing.
Mid Coast Hunger Prevention Program-$8070.77 The Youth Services Program of the MidCoast Hunger Prevention Program (MCHPP) seeks a sustaining grant to provide a variety of fresh and packaged foods to support the applicant’s Youth Services Program. The program offers full-service, in school pantries, take-home backpacks containing food for weekend meals, and school snacks and hosts school-wide free produce events. It benefits elementary, middle, and high school students and their families in several locations, working with 14 partner schools in our catchment area.
Midcoast Literacy-$5,000 Midcoast Literacy seeks a grant to sustain and strengthen the Read Together program, which offers year-round one-on-one tutoring services for children ages 6 – 14 who are below grade level in literacy-related subjects in school and/or are English language learners. The program is now serving 50% more students annually than they did three years ago. Students receive free books and materials, and instruction from trained volunteer tutors.
Midcoast Maine Community Action-$5,000 seeks funding for its Diaper Project (previously run by the United Way of Midcoast Maine), which serves families in need of diaper supplies in Sagadahoc, Lincoln, and Cumberland Counties. The organization has served the Midcoast region since 1972 and offers support services, education, and resources to expectant families. The funding requested from MWGT would allow for the purchase of 20,000 diapers and serve about 400 families in need.
Midcoast Youth Center-$6047.90 seeks funding to support the Merrymeeting Support Collaborative for Youth Experiencing Homelessness which provides resources to homeless or at risk of being homeless youth within the catchment area. MWGT funds make it possible to provide clothing, haircuts, toiletries, clothing for school, sports gear for extra-curricular activities, and any other items that may arise (such as senior yearbooks, cap and gown fees, etc.), many of which are not covered elsewhere.
People Plus Brunswick Area Teen Center–$5,050 relocated to the Coffin School Building, adjacent to Brunswick Junior High School this year. BATC seeks funding to build a garden and a greenhouse and to deliver related educational programming for youth in grades 6-12, at the Coffin School Building.
Planned Parenthood, Northern New England-$12,116.52 seeks funding to support reproductive health care for patients at its Topsham health center, which serves the Midcoast area. The requested funds would pay for contraceptive and medical supplies. They expect to provide care for over 1900 patients at the Topsham center, where the patients are predominantly female, young, and lower income.
Tedford Housing–$5,000 requests ongoing funding for the Breaking Down Barriers Fund to assist women, girls, and families in our catchment area overcome typical yet significant barriers to gaining and maintaining permanent housing or employment. Tedford uses funds for birth certificates, application fees, phone cards, car maintenance and gas cards to get to interviews, work, or school, or to purchase basic household supplies upon move-in to permanent housing.
Founded in 2009 by two local women, the Maine Women’s Giving Tree is a grant-making organization of women with a shared commitment to improve the lives of other women, children, and families living in our area. Giving Tree members pool their contributions and vote every year on how to distribute these funds.
The organization is recognized as a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt charity by the Internal Revenue Service.
