MaineCF’s Hancock County Committee awards $197,000 in grants

Monday, July 19, 2021

The Hancock County Committee of the Maine Community Foundation has awarded $197,918 in grants to 27 nonprofits through the Community Building Grant Program.

Grant recipients include:

  • Ellsworth Public Library, for an outdoor library to provide safe and sufficient Wi-Fi access to students, job seekers, and others during the COVID-19 pandemic
  • Opiate Free Island Partnership, Inc., Stonington, to establish a Maine CDC-certified syringe exchange and related services program on Deer Isle
  • Trenton Elementary School, to make structural and maintenance upgrades to the school greenhouse, outdoor learning spaces, and community food cupboard for year-round operation.

MaineCF donors also made 11 additional grants totaling $64,400 from donor-advised funds.

The Hancock County Fund is a permanent endowment that supports projects and nonprofits that strengthen communities in the county. Proposals are submitted through MaineCF’s Community Building Grant Program and are reviewed by a committee of local leaders. The next proposal deadline is February 15, 2022. Application, guidelines and a complete list of recent grants can be found at www.mainecf.org

The Hancock County Fund is built through donations from the community. If you would like more information about the fund, please contact Leslie Goode, MaineCF senior program officer, at (207) 412-2002 or by e-mail at lgoode@mainecf.org.

2021 Grants from the Hancock County Committee:

  • Acadia Family Center, Southwest Harbor, to create a mobile art therapy studio reaching those unable to access care for mental wellness and substance use: $8,577
  • College of the Atlantic, Bar Harbor, to support its Food & Sustainable Agriculture Systems Program to expand capacity to provide organic vegetables to food-insecure members of the Mount Desert Island community: $5,000
  • Common Good Soup Kitchen Community, Southwest Harbor, for a new combination walk-in refrigerator and freezer to expand its capacity to help address food insecurity: $10,000
  • Deer Isle Adult Education/CSD #13, to expand the capacity of its high school completion program for young adults whose progress was negatively impacted by COVID-19: $10,000
  • Ellsworth Free Medical Clinic, to pilot providing social work services to help its patients strengthen relationships and connect with available resources: $8,800
  • Ellsworth High School Gender Sexuality Diversity Alliance, to engage LGBTQIA+ youth and allies to plan, implement, and participate in substance-free, family-friendly Pride Month events: $5,200
  • Ellsworth Public Library, for an outdoor library to provide safe and sufficient Wi-Fi access to students, job seekers, and others during the COVID-19 pandemic: $5,740
  • Families First Community Center, Ellsworth, to create a service coordination program for adults who lost employment due to COVID-19: $10,000
  • Hancock Grammar School, to provide biweekly Summer Food Boxes to food-insecure students: $9,300
  • Healthy Acadia, Bar Harbor, to build capacity to advance racial and health equity in its internal systems and in its community health convening and programming: $10,000
  • Healthy Island Project, Deer Isle, to bring internet access, training, and social and health benefits to an underserved senior cohort: $10,000
  • Healthy Peninsula, Blue Hill, to provide and coordinate support for older community members: $7,500
  • HOME Inc, East Orland, to expand and build capacity for its food bank and food delivery in response to COVID-19: $10,000
  • Hospice Volunteers of Hancock County, Ellsworth, to expand services to meet changing needs brought on by the pandemic: $10,000
  • Kids’ Corner Inc., Bar Harbor, to access tools for teachers to provide tele-therapy sessions and remote intergenerational programming during the pandemic and beyond: $5,000
  • Little Cranberry Yacht Club Community Sailing & Education Foundation, to build organizational capacity to expand community connections and programming focused on local youth: $5,000
  • Loaves and Fishes Food Pantry, Ellsworth, to increase the pantry's effectiveness and efficiency in reaching and serving food-insecure families in Hancock County: $8,600
  • NextStep Domestic Violence Project, Ellsworth, to produce and distribute a radio show/podcast featuring youth, domestic violence experts, and occasional "celebrity" guests examining healthy/unhealthy relationships in television, film, and pop-culture: $10,000
  • Opera House Arts, Stonington, to reimagine its "School to Community Pipeline" program of creative learning and apprenticeships for Deer Isle's young people: $5,000
  • Opiate-Free Island Partnership, Inc., Stonington, to establish a Maine CDC-certified syringe exchange and related services program on Deer Isle: $7,500
  • Reversing Falls Sanctuary, Brooksville, to improve online programming by purchasing new equipment and training staff and volunteers in conjunction with the Brooksville Public Library: $5,251
  • Salt Pond Community Broadcasting Company (WERU), East Orland, to fund a young intern who will produce a public affairs show focused on community resources available during COVID-19 while developing her/his journalistic skills: $5,000
  • Schoodic Arts for All, Winter Harbor, to expand arts-related programs in new formats and for new audiences, post-pandemic: $6,300
  • The Simmering Pot, Blue Hill, to upgrade the kitchen for expanded meal preparation and to assist with food expenses for a new meal-delivery program: $10,000
  • Threadbare Theatre Workshop, Brooklin, to strengthen communities across the Blue Hill Peninsula through participatory theater: $5,150
  • Trenton Elementary School, to make structural and maintenance upgrades to the school greenhouse, outdoor learning spaces, and community food cupboard for year-round operation: $10,000
  • Beth C. Wright Cancer Resource Center, Ellsworth, to provide tablets and digital literacy instruction to cancer patients living in Hancock and Washington counties: $5,000

2021 Grants from Donor-Advised Funds:

  • Camp Beech Cliff, Mount Desert, to train three certified instructors in Youth Mental Health First Aid and to offer the course to parents and other community members: $10,000
  • Community Compass, Blue Hill, to expand its navigator-led early childhood/parent support PALS program in response to increased COVID-19-related family social isolation, educational disruption, and economic hardship: $10,000
  • Ellsworth Community Music Institute, to offer its pre-school music class live online and for free in the fall 2021 and to prepare for a program expansion post-pandemic: $3,750
  • Ellsworth Garden Club for the Ellsworth Green Plan, to create an effective outreach and communications program that will enable Green Ellsworth to implement the Ellsworth Green Plan during and after the pandemic: $10,000
  • Friends of Acadia, Bar Harbor, to expand the Outdoor Classroom Collaborative between Hancock County teachers and Acadia’s Education Rangers to create nature-based curricula and support successful outdoor learning for students: $7,200
  • Islesford Boat Works, to create a boat-building apprenticeship program for island teens that would provide employment for the community while strengthening continuity within the organization: $6,550
  • Loaves and Fishes Food Pantry, Ellsworth, to increase the pantry's effectiveness and efficiency in reaching and serving food-insecure families in Hancock County:  $6,400
  • Pierre Monteux Memorial Foundation, Hancock, to support the annual children’s concert, which is free and open to the public: $2,500
  • Trenton Elementary School, to make structural and maintenance upgrades to the school greenhouse, outdoor learning spaces, and community food cupboard for year-round operation: $5,000
  • Schoodic Institute at Acadia National Park, Winter Harbor, to create outdoor classrooms: $3,000
Funding Area: