Grant brings the bank’s total donation to the grassroots nonprofit to $65,000
Finding Our Voices has received a $10,000 grant from Camden National Bank.
According to Patrisha McLean, CEO and founder of the nonprofit that empowers women survivors of domestic abuse, the donation will provide a loving hand-up to its sisters across the state as well as prevent abuse with its groundbreaking “This is Not Love” program in schools.
McLean said Finding Our Voices has received a total of $65,000 from Camden National Bank since 2020. She said this funding has helped to launch the nonprofit’s vital work in high schools as well as its statewide domestic abuse-awareness poster campaign featuring the faces and voices of 48 Maine survivors aged 18 to 85 and including Gov. Janet T. Mills. Grants from Camden National Bank have also paid for critical items for women survivors to get themselves and their children safe, and rebuild their lives.
Renee Smyth, chief experience and marketing officer of Camden National Bank, said, “For more than five years, Camden National Bank has proudly partnered with Finding Our Voices to support their powerful grassroots efforts. What began in Camden, Maine, has grown into a statewide movement, reaching countless communities and schools with impactful awareness and critical funding for survivors. We are honored to stand with them in amplifying voices, fostering safety and driving meaningful change across Maine.”
According to McLean, “Before Finding Our Voices was even a nonprofit, Renee called me and said ‘How can we help?’ I was fairly fresh out of domestic abuse myself, and my hometown bank’s confidence in me and solid support of my vision, then and continuing over five years, has been critical in getting Finding Our Voices to where we are today — the difference between surviving and thriving for countless women all across Maine.”
Finding Our Voices is Maine women survivors of domestic abuse extending critical resources and connection to our sisters toward personal healing and systemic change. During July, 100 eateries across Midcoast Maine and the Blue Hill Peninsula are donating all or part of the proceeds of special yellow menu items to Finding Our Voices. For more information visit https://findingourvoices.net.
