Finding Our Voices gets holiday grant

Finding Our Voices has received a $7,500 grant from Camden National Bank. From left are Simon Griffiths of the bank; Patrisha McLean and Nicole Gogan, both of Finding Our Voices; and bank President Greg Dufour. Photo by Viktorie Mathiau

Finding Our Voices has received a $7,500 grant from Camden National Bank.

The donation will boost two key programs of the grassroots nonprofit breaking the silence of domestic abuse across Maine: The Get Out Stay Out Fund and dating-abuse awareness in schools, according to a news release from Patrisha McLean, CEO and founder of the nonprofit.

The Get Out Stay Out Fund provided $85,000 in 2023 for shelter, car, legal, home security, and food expenses to 160 women across Maine fleeing domestic abuse and trying to get on their feet and also provide safety and stability for their children.

“The holidays have brought a sharp spike in referrals from district attorney offices, homeless shelters, mental health and recovery caseworkers etc., so getting such a big grant right now is like a Christmas miracle,” said McLean.

This is the second year in a row that the bank has sponsored the group’s student-outreach campaign. The bank-sponsored Finding Our Voices posters featuring first person accounts of dating abuse by 25 students made it into almost every Maine high school and many colleges and universities in 2023.

Greg Dufour, retiring as president and CEO of the bank after 14 years, welcomed McLean and Finding Our Voices Board Treasurer Nicole Gogan into the bank’s headquarters following the awarding of the grant for a conversation with his successor, Simon Griffiths.

For more information, visit findingourvoices.net or email McLean at hello@findingourvoices.net.