Article Title: Donate

When you give to the basic needs fund, you are helping families and individuals with any variety of basic needs. Requests are reviewed daily, which provides a quick resolution for people in need.  We have supported things like car repairs for for those who rely on transportation for employment, essential appliances to keep a home functional and children safe,  supplemental dental  care with the collaboration of others to provide life changing oral health, needed equipment or tools to stay employed. We will help with these requests as they are available and after other community resources and programs have been explored.  Thank you for your contribution.

Donate

When the weather turns cold, thousands of families in our service area struggle to stay warm. Your donation will provide emergency heating assistance to families at risk of going without heat. You may designate your gift for households in a particular town or county, or allow your gift to be used wherever there’s a need. Thank you for warming homes and hearts!

The Arata O’Sullivan Group at Morgan Stanley is a proud sponsor of the Good Neighbor Fund for the 2023-24 season.

Your donation will help area infants and toddlers in need of diapers and wipes.  If you are unsure of the average cost of a package of diapers it is about $15 for one package.  Thank you for any donation amount.

Imagine living in rural Maine with a chronic health condition and little to no financial means to get to treatment. That is the reality for many individuals. Your donation to Access to Care will provide transportation assistance (rides or financial reimbursement) for individuals who do not have or cannot afford transportation to chemotherapy, dialysis and other crucial medical treatment.

Penquis helps thousands of individuals and families annually to keep their homes heated in the winter, to provide children with quality learning experiences, to get to needed medical treatment, to escape violence, to start their own businesses, to own their own homes and much more. Support of the Penquis General Fund helps to provide services when the need exceeds the funding available to allow families to receive the help they need when they need it.

Maine has a large number of homes with outdated heating systems, inadequate plumbing and/or electrical systems, poor insulation, structural decay and insufficient accessibility design. Yet, they are what often provide housing for our low-income citizens. Donations are used to provide emergency home repair when there is a danger to a family’s health or safety.

Please consider donating any new or gently used winter coats to our Coats for Kindness program.  New coats can be dropped off at any Penquis location and gently worn coats can be dropped off at any of Gold Star Cleaners’ locations:

220 Union Street, Bangor, ME

Brewer Shopping Center, Brewer, ME

200 Wilson Street, Brewer, ME

Corner of Main & Depot, Lincoln, ME

Old Town Plaza, Old Town, ME

University Mall, Orono, ME

Thank you to Gold Star Cleaners for their extraordinary support and their willingness to collect and clean coats for this year’s campaign!

Thank you for keeping our community warm through these cold Maine winters!

If you are a business or organization interested in holding a coat drive, let us know! Contact Chantelle Haltizer at chaltizer@penquis.org.

For survivors of sexual assault, Penquis subsidiary Rape Response Services offers a 24-hour crisis and support line, accompaniment to medical and legal appointments, support groups and follow up services. Donations support these essential services as well as the needs of survivors, such as transportation to and from the hospital/medical provider, a hotel stay, clothing and/or other personal items needed as a result of an assault.

The best response to child sexual abuse is a coordinated community response. At the Penquis Children’s Advocacy Center (Penquis CAC), law enforcement, child protective services, and victim services professionals work together to coordinate the investigation, prosecution, and treatment of child sexual abuse while helping abused children heal. Your donation will support the work of the Penquis CAC, helping to reduce trauma to child victims and increase the likelihood of successful prosecutions when investigations lead to criminal prosecution.

The Penquis Foster Grandparent Program connects low-income seniors with opportunities to volunteer in schools and child care centers. Your donation has multiple benefits: seniors benefit from a small stipend and purpose in their lives, at-risk children and youth receive the support they need to succeed, and schools and child care providers benefit from volunteer assistance, allowing them to better meet children’s needs.

The first five years of life are critical to children’s healthy development. Your donation will help to give children a healthy start by supporting their early care and education, both at home and in the classroom:  diapers and wipes to keep infants clean and dry; safety items such as outlet covers and cabinet locks to keep children out of harm’s way; support for childcare fees to promote continuity of care; children’s books to encourage early literacy; and classroom supplies to provide quality early learning experiences.

Penquis serves a number of children with autism, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, anxiety, depression, and/or post-traumatic stress disorder. Many materials that can alleviate symptoms, improve children’s ability to cope, and aid in recovery often are not covered by MaineCare insurance and beyond families’ ability to purchase. Even simple items such as coloring and journaling supplies, which help children with emotional challenges to express themselves and heal, can be beyond a family’s financial capacity. Donations to this fund will be used to purchase items not covered by insurance, including communication tools such as PECS (Picture Exchange Communication System) boards that can help non-verbal children communicate, sensory tools such as chewy tubes, and noise-cancelling devices.

Support 3-D Printed Homes. New solutions are needed to address the housing affordability crisis in Maine.  Maine has an estimated shortage of 20,000 to 25,000 affordable rental units.  This project is investing is ways to create units more quickly and inexpensively, as well as more sustainably.

The project, using UMaine’s BioHome3D technology, is a collaborative effort involving Penquis, the University of Maine’s Advanced Structures and Composites Center and MaineHousing. The neighborhood will be located in the Greater Bangor area and consist of nine homes that will provide housing for individuals experiencing or at risk of homelessness.

The project has secured private funding as well, garnering the support of KeyBank Foundation, which awarded Penquis a grant in support of the initiative. Penquis has also secured funding from NeighborWorks America, a congressionally chartered nonprofit organization that supports community development throughout the US.  If you have any questions or would like to be a part of this project or future housing solutions contact Jason Bird at jbird@penquis.org