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LEWISTON — Androscoggin Bank’s MainStreet Foundation announced that St. Mary’s Nutrition Center has been named the 2017 recipient of its annual $25K for Kids grant.
The award was presented at the MainStreet Foundation annual meeting Nov. 15, at the Ramada Lewiston Hotel and Conference Center.
Focused on using access to healthy food as an entry point to leadership development, community building and making long-term change, the $25,000 award was presented to the Nutrition Center to help it strengthen its youth leadership programs so it can better support teens who have limited opportunities or are living in poverty, according to a news release from the foundation.
St. Mary’s Nutrition Center supports the Lewiston-Auburn region by placing a value in strengthening community connections, addressing root causes, nurturing a sense of place, and facilitating a deeper commitment to equity across the community, according to the release. They believe that everyone deserves access to healthy food, as a fundamental right. In today’s world, there is a renewed sense of urgency behind how youth are engaged as partners. The Nutrition Center feels a great responsibility to promote youth as leaders both at the Nutrition Center and in the community.
“It’s hard to put into words the importance of MainStreet Foundation’s efforts to fund vital programs that support the children of Maine who need them the most,” said Kirsten Walter, director of the St. Mary’s Nutrition Center. “Their work helps to ensure that Maine youth and kids remain safe, are provided with healthy meals, and have fair access to essential services, such as health care, counseling, and education. Investing in these essentials opens up much needed opportunity for kids – giving them a chance to dream, and the support and care needed to reach their goals.”
MainStreet Foundation’s mission is simple, focused and essential: to help keep kids safe, healthy, active, happy, educated and nourished, the release said. The $25K for Kids annual award is even more focused on the three essentials of life — food, shelter and security. According to Steve Closson, the MainStreet Foundation’s chairman, “We selected St. Mary’s Nutrition Center because we’re committed to ensuring that children in the Lewiston-Auburn region, and the state of Maine, for that matter, have access to healthy, nutritious meals as well as programs that encourage positive growth. When we learned more about the Nutrition Center’s desire to expand leadership and development programs to empower the community’s youth, we were moved to help. The Nutrition Center’s efforts to support community building, leadership and youth development, and neighborhood revitalization are deserving of this recognition.”
To learn more about the Nutrition Center, visit www.stmarysnutritioncenter.org
St. Mary’s Nutrition Center was one of three finalists for the $25k for Kids award. Chosen from a pool of numerous applicants, Children’s Advocacy Center of Androscoggin, Franklin and Oxford Counties, an organization focused on providing trauma-informed mental health treatment for children and families, and The Portland Children’s Museum & Theatre, which is focused on children’s development and learning through exploration and play.
This is the fifth year that MainStreet Foundation has awarded the grant. Last year, the grant was awarded to Portland’s Preble Street Teen Center, a statewide organization that provides accessible, barrier-free services to empower people experiencing problems with homelessness, housing, hunger and poverty, and to advocate for solutions to these problems.
In 2015, Longley Elementary School in Lewiston was awarded the grant for its after-school programming including an innovative walking school bus. In 2014, the grant was awarded to the Androscoggin Childhood Advocacy Center, a child-focused center that promotes the healing of victims of child sexual abuse. In 2013, Good Shepherd Food Bank’s BackPack Program in Lewiston and Auburn Schools received the grant.
