$1.8M in new funding will help nonprofits supporting Lewiston mass shooting recovery

File Photo / Jim Neuger As the Lewiston community continues to heal following October's mass shooting, the Maine Community Foundation has distributed $1.9 million to 29 nonprofits aiding in the recovery.

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By Renee Cordes

Six months after the deadly mass shooting in Lewiston, the Maine Community Foundation said it has given $1.8 million to 29 nonprofit organizations supporting recovery efforts related to the trauma.

The donations were distributed via the organization’s Lewiston-Auburn Area Response Fund Broad Recovery and Organizations Fund, which received the money in donations following the Oct. 25 tragedy. All funds were distributed evenly, with $62,522 going to each organization.

Recipients include the Boys and Girls club of Southern Maine and the New Mainers Public Health Initiative.

“These organizations are crucial to long-term community needs following the tragic mass shootings last fall,” said Laura Lee, Maine Community Foundation's vice president of community impact. “We’re so grateful to all who donated to this fund and to the volunteer steering-committee members who helped determine the best way to distribute these contributions.”

Full list of recipients

AK Collaborative
Boys and Girls Clubs of Southern Maine
Central Maine Medical Center
Community Clinical Services
Community Concepts
Empowered Immigrant Women Unite
Gateway Community Services Maine
Generational Noor
Ifka Community Services
Lewiston-Auburn Area Housing Development Corporation
Lewiston-Auburn Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce Foundation
Lewiston-Auburn Youth Network
Maine Association of the Deaf
Maine Inside Out
Maine MILL
Maine Prisoner Advocacy Coalition
New Beginnings
New Mainers Public Health Initiative
Safe Voices
St. Mary's Regional Medical Center
Somali Bantu Community Association
Sweetser
The Root Cellar
Tree Street Youth
Tri-County Mental Health Services (Spurwink)
Trinity Jubilee Center
United Way of Androscoggin County
United Youth Empowerment Services
YWCA Central Maine

Recipients were selected by a volunteer steering committee made up of local community members.

Last month, the foundation distributed close to $4.8 million from its Victims & Families Fund to 162 individual beneficiaries directly impacted by the shootings, including families of murder victims and individuals who were injured or present during the shootings.

In Lewiston on Thursday, the Maine Resiliency Center is hosting a public commemoration event for victims of the mass shooting, their families and the public.

The event will take place at 6:30 p.m. at Simard Payne Memorial Park and will include moments of silence and remarks. Members of the community are asked to show their support by lighting and displaying candles in their windows.