Our Impact
- Provides funding to local organizations enabling them to offer new services to their clients
- Creates a nurturing environment for members to establish new friendships and support their community
- Familiarizes members with local non-profits
Recent Grantees
- 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: $4,000– 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 towns 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: $6047.90 requests funding for Hope for Lisa an extension to the Bath areas of its program providing supervised visitation services giving children access to both parents in situations of domestic abuse. H2H’s visitation services enable interactions between adult survivors (custodial and non-custodial parents) and their children in a secure, survivor-centered, confidential environment, enabling parents who have experienced partner violence and abuse to meet safely. The grant will provide partial support for 100 hours of supervised visitation services, 20 transportation scholarships, and 30 hours of court advocacy and education for any family referred by West Bath District Court and serve an estimated 15-25 families or 45 to 100 individuals.
- Mowita’nej Epijij -$ 5,000 Mowita’nej Epijij, established in 2018, means welcome to the gathering place in the Mi’kmaq language. Mowita’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. Mowita’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.
- ArtVan: $8,000 to support on-site mobile art therapy for under-resourced youth, ages 3-17, who live at Hyde Park and Maritime Apartments in Bath and at Perryman Village in Brunswick.
- Bath Area BackPack Program: $4,000 to purchase pre-packaged food bags for weekends and vacations for approximately 200 school children ages 5-18 in RSU-1 schools in Bath, Woolwich, and Phippsburg.
- Bath Area Family YMCA: $6,000 to create a second Veggie Van bus route within the Bath, West Bath, Woolwich and Phippsburg RSU-1 school district. The new route will reach at least 20 additional families in need.
- Big Brothers Big Sisters of Bath/Brunswick: $6,000 to re-establish an after-school High School Big Program, which was suspended during the Covid-9 emergency. At least 32 high school students will mentor younger students attending middle schools in Brunswick, Topsham, and Bath for at least one hour a week during the school year.
- The Gathering Place: $5,000 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 in continued funding to support an organic grow-for-donation Farm Program in Brunswick to address food insecurity, build community among volunteers, and provide educational opportunities.
- Habitat for Humanity/7 Rivers: $5,000 for its Critical Home Repair and Modification Program to help 60 local homeowners, who are mostly low-income older adults, with repairs, weatherizing, and home modifications needed to help them remain in their homes.
- I’m Your Neighbor Books: $3,000 to purchase a traveling set of 30 children’s picture books, with teacher/librarian discussion questions to spark conversations about immigration, welcoming, and belonging. There are 80 students in the Brunswick School District registered as multilingual learners, and that number is expected to double in the near future.
- Maine Coast Fishermen?s Association: $5,000 to support an expanded pilot program to determine the feasibility of offering a ready-to-eat option of monkfish stew to the Bath Area Food Bank, MidCoast Hunger Prevention Program, and Freeport Community Services Food Bank, and to schools in our area.
- Mid Coast Hunger Prevention Program: $9,000 in continued support for the School Pantry program, which includes in-school pantries at three local schools, take-home backpack bags containing food for four meals, and in-school snacks for teachers to distribute during school hours.
- Midcoast Literacy: $4,000 to expand programs for English language learners (both adults and children), including Workplace Literacy that provides job-specific, on-site English language classes, English language instruction, including one-on-one tutoring for adults and older teens, and Read Together for children ages 6-14.
- MidCoast Youth Center: $7,500 to support direct costs of basic needs (including clothing, haircuts, toiletries, and sports gear) for homeless youth in local school districts through the Merrymeeting Support Collaborative for Youth Experiencing Homelessness.
- Oasis Free Clinics: $8,250 to purchase medical and dental supplies, including 50 blood pressure monitors, prescription and over-the-counter medications, and 25 pairs of eyeglasses for uninsured, low-income residents of Freeport, Brunswick, Harpswell, the Islands, Durham, and Sagadahoc County.
- Oliver Place (NFI North): $4,750 to create a new “Say YES Fund” for teens living at Oliver Place Children’s Home in Bath. Funding will cover ?extras,? such as driver’s ed, clothes for a new job, birthday and holiday gifts, repairs to broken iPhone screens, and recreational trips for which funding is not otherwise available.
- Planned Parenthood of Northern New England: $8,000 for contraceptive and medical supplies intended for low-income patients at the Topsham/Brunswick Health Center.
- Tedford Housing: $5,000 in ongoing funding for its Breaking Down Barriers fund which helps women, girls, and families gain and maintain permanent housing. Funds may be used for birth certificates and application fees, phone cards, car maintenance, and gas cards for interviews.
- TogetHER Invested: $1,500 to underwrite the costs of a Waking Up to Wealth workshop in the fall to help women understand financial literacy essentials and to build healthy financial habits.
- Wayfinder Schools: $5,000 in ongoing support for the Passages Program, an alternative high school aimed at helping at-risk young people and teen parents get a second chance to earn a high school diploma.
- ARTVAN: $7,675 – sustaining funding is sought for on-site mobile art therapy for under-resourced youth ages 3 – 17 and for the ArtVan Artists Xtraordinaire open-studio program for teens and young adults at Perryman Village in Brunswick. New funding is sought to expand the ArtVan – Maine Maritime Museum collaborative educational and expressive art-making programming to Perryman Village.
- BATH AREA FAMILY YMCA: $8,250 – A reliable source of funding is sought to ensure that the Y’s drop-in Teen Time program can always provide healthy snacks to its 40 – 60 participants experiencing food insecurity after school, on weekends, and throughout the summer. Snacks are not covered by the reimbursement programs that cover meals for students, so snacks can only be provided when existing resources can creatively be found.
- Big Brothers Big Sisters of Bath/Brunswick : $6,675 funding is sought to support the cost of conducting volunteer mentor and parent/guardian background reference checks, and training during the initial interview and re-screening process for approximately 70 matches. Re-screening occurs every three years to ensure the ongoing safety of the children and families served by the School, Site, and Community-Based mentoring programs.
- Freeport Community Services $5,675: first-time funding is requested for food and supplies to support the Freeport and Pownal Community Food Program, through its Food Pantry, Freeport Community BackPack Program to provide weekend food bags, and the Summer Snacks program which also provides staples, fresh produce, and dairy products to take home. The applicant fully funds these latter two programs, for which it does not receive any state or federal reimbursement.
- Growing to Give: $5,675: the applicant requests funding to support and sustain incorporating greater diversity, equity, and inclusion into its agricultural and educational programming at its Brunswick organic farm. This will be achieved by offering more culturally-preferred vegetables through the grow-for-donation farm program, through developing and delivering educational curricula for youth around growing these foods, and by offering extended employment to a Farm Skill Training Program graduate.
- Habitat for Humanity / 7 Rivers: $10,000 sustaining funds are requested to support the Critical Home Repair Program, which annually assists over 100 homeowners (many of whom are female heads of household and low-income older adults) in the Midcoast area with repairs, weatherizing, and home modifications needed to help them remain in their homes. The applicant also partners with Harpswell Aging at Home’s Home Repair service. Funds help purchase materials and job site expenses, capped at $1,500 per home; all labor is provided by volunteers.
- Mid Coast Hunger Prevention Program: $9,250 sustaining funds are requested to support the applicant’s Youth Services Program which benefits elementary, middle, and high school students and their families who are facing food insecurity in our catchment area. The Program offers a number of food services, including full-service in-school pantries, take-home backpack bags containing food for weekend meals, and school snacks.
- Midcoast Literacy: $4,925 funds are requested 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. Student are provided with free books and materials, and instruction is provided by trained volunteer tutors.
- Midcoast Youth Center: $8,175 the applicant requests continuing funds to support the direct costs of providing basic needs for more than 55 homeless youth in the local
- school districts and those under 18 not connected to a school system through the Merrymeeting Support Collaborative for Youth experiencing Homelessness program. Basic-need items include clothing, haircuts, toiletries, sports gear for extra-curricular activities, and any other items that may arise and are often not covered anywhere else.
- People Plus Teen Center: $7,175 sustaining funds are sought to support the needs of the 285 low-income and at-risk youth ages 11-18 (grades 6-12) who participate in the free activities at the Brunswick Area Teen Center, by increasing the purchase of food to provide full dinners and healthy snacks, toiletries (hygiene products), transportation to and from the Teen Center for those who otherwise could not participate and to outside events, and four scholarships for driver’s education classes.
- Pine Tree Society: $8,175 funding is requested to support expansion of the applicant’s Audiology program to offer hearing evaluations for infants (ages 0-2) for the first time in it’s Bath location. Hearing evaluations for infants under 2 is a specialized service currently offered in only 3 cities in Maine. Funds would help purchase a hearing booth needed for the new specialized equipment required to service approximately 200 pediatric hearing evaluations annually.
- Planned Parenthood of Northern New England: $11,500 funding is sought for contraceptive and medical supplies for the Reproductive Health Care for Low-Income Patients program at the Topsham/Brunswick Health Center. High-quality reproductive and sexual health services are offered to predominantly female, young, low-income, and underinsured patients. Abortion services are offered through a separate program and are not part of this request.
- Tedford Housing $: 5,675 ongoing funding is sought 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. Funds are used for birth certificates and application fees; phone cards; car maintenance and gas cards to get to interviews, work, or school; and basic household supplies upon move-in to permanent housing.
- The Gathering Place: $5,175 sustaining funding is sought to support the Direct Service Delivery Program of the only daytime shelter in Greater Brunswick, which -through its Community Navigator – offers a bridge to services to ensure that no community member falls through the cracks but instead receives needed assistance. Funds are used to provide emergency housing and healthcare expenses, supplies and outdoor gear, and transportation.
- ARTVAN: $7,500 to bring healing Art Therapy to under-resourced youth in their home communities.
- BIG BROTHERS BIG SISTERS OF BATH/BRUNSWICK: $6,000 to support The Volunteer Recruitment Project to generate more interest in becoming a Big Brother/Sister.
- BRUNSWICK ? TOPSHAM LAND TRUST: $8,000 to expand the New Mainers Growing program with new garden beds and increased growing opportunities.
- FAMILY AND COMMUNITY MEDIATION: $7,500 to establish an Outreach Coordinator and Scholarship Program for the midcoast area to support families in need of mediation.
- THE GATHERING PLACE: $5,000 to support the new Direct Service Delivery Program that secures emergency supplies and delivery of food to the homeless.
- GROWING TO GIVE: $5,000 to expand the Growing, Giving, and Learning program to strengthen educational offerings to schoolchildren about solutions to hunger and healthy food.
- HABITAT FOR HUMANITY / 7 RIVERS MAINE: $5,000 to support the ongoing material costs for the Critical Repair and Modification Program for elderly or disabled homeowners.
- INDEPENDENCE ASSOCIATION: $10,000 to fund the New Mainer Hiring Initiative to Support Vulnerable Low-Income Mainers with Disabilities to hire and train New Mainers.
- MID COAST HUNGER PREVENTION PROGRAM: $9,000 to continue support for the School Pantry Program that provides in-school snacks and weekend meals for hungry school-aged children.
- MIDCOAST LITERACY: $3,000 to sustain the Read Together tutoring program for school-age children.
- MIDCOAST YOUTH CENTER: $7,500 to supply the Merrymeeting Support Collaborative for Youth Experiencing Homelessness program with basic care items for homeless youth.
- PEOPLE PLUS BRUNSWICK AREA TEEN CENTER: $4,000 to sustain funding for the Brunswick Area Teen Center to provide afterschool and summer meal programs to disadvantaged youth.
- TEDFORD HOUSING: $5,000 to continue funding for the Breaking Down Barriers Fund to help female clients gain independence.
