Resilience in the face of tragedy: Nonprofits support survivors of the Lewiston shooting

Oct. 25 will mark the first-year anniversary of the Lewiston mass shooting, which claimed 18 lives and wounded 13 others.

In the immediate aftermath of the tragedy, the Lewiston community and nonprofits such as the Maine Community Foundation and Community Concepts came together to create the Maine Resiliency Center. This organization has brought resources, advocates, and understanding to those who were directly impacted by the loss and devastation of the shooting.

Photo / Courtesy Maine Community Foundation

John Ochira, a community partner for Maine Community Foundation, says that after the Lewiston tragedy, there was an urgent grassroots movement to provide community support.

John Ochira, a community partner for MaineCF, says that after the tragedy, there was an urgent grassroots movement to provide community support. While many plans and organizations came together to create a safety net for victims’ families and survivors, the Maine Resiliency Center rose from the collaboration.

“The Resiliency Center was, I think, the biggest of those efforts, and draws on the work that local organizations are doing, and support from the state and the Department of Health and Human Services, and so many others. It represents a big collaboration around community support and resilience,” Ochira says.

MaineCF stepped up to further support the Resiliency Center through fundraising efforts which partnered with multiple community partners. Local radio personalities, newspapers, political offices and private donors spread awareness about the effort and raised money for the families affected.

Through the outreach, MaineCF raised $1.9 million, which was distributed to 29 nonprofits responding to the crisis. Another $4.7 million given to 162 individuals directly affected by the mass shootings.

Ochira was proud of the fact that the fundraising efforts and disbursement were community-led through committees. These committees included residents and locals from all diverse backgrounds and perspectives who came together to allocate funding in the way they thought Lewiston needed it the most.

“We’re supporting our communities that are on the ground and doing the work. They are recognizing the challenges in the community, and they’re really advocating for support to address those issues. We’re supporting that group of people that are doing work,” Ochira says about MaineCF’s ability to uplift other nonprofits in their ability to help others.

The Maine Resiliency Center was there immediately in the aftermath of devastation and continues to be there for the community nearly a year later. Ochira encourages those who have not yet entered the Center to use the resources and support provided by the nonprofit. “That work that’s being done at the Resiliency Center is really making a difference, and I hope that people continue to utilize it. They’ve done a really good job at making that space welcoming and friendly, but still, some people who are impacted, who can benefit from the Center, still don’t know that that’s a place that they can go. And I think any way that anyone can get the word out would make a difference to the person that needs to get the help and needs to connect with people who could help them in that space. So, I hope that the word continues to go out.”

Quick response

Community Concepts is a nonprofit focused on providing the community with housing, social services and economic development. The nonprofit was also the founding agency for the Maine Resiliency Center.

Photo / Courtesy Maine Resiliency Center

Danielle Parent, director of the Maine Resiliency Center, says the center was put together quickly to respond as immediately as possible.

Danielle Parent, director of the Maine Resiliency Center and senior director of Strategic Initiatives Community Concepts and Oxford County Mental Health Services, and Jim Martin, CEO of Community Concepts Inc. and executive director of Oxford County Mental Health Services, spoke about the grassroots development of the Maine Resiliency Center and its continued impact on the community.

“When the Oct. 25 shootings happened and the response from the federal agencies happened, there was a need for an agency to step up to the plate to provide support to the families and the victims and the survivors of the shootings. So, the city of Lewiston turned to Community Concepts, given our history, reputation, and quality, and asked if we would be the entity to take that on that responsibility, which, of course, we agreed to do,” Martin explained.

Photo / Courtesy Community Concepts Inc.

Jim Martin is CEO of Community Concepts Inc. and executive director of Oxford County Mental Health Services.

Resiliency centers can be found throughout the nation as places of support, but each community takes a different approach and offers services that fit the unique needs of their neighborhoods. Parent explained that at their cores, all resiliency centers are safe spaces for people in the community to gather. In the chaos that followed the shootings, the staff of Community Concepts were faced with decisions they had to make quickly, “What should the center offer? What are the needs of residents? Should they open urgently or take their time?”. Instead of going slow with the development process, Community Concepts decided to meet the urgency of the situation.

“We took the approach of just holding space and being present and creating a physical space that people could come to and share in their common experiences, to process this very normal reaction to what we would call an abnormal event, and to truly have a judgment free kind of space for people to go through the steps of processing their trauma and along the way, as people are ready, providing skills and resources,” Parent says.

“So we opened our center 19 days after the shooting, which was the second fastest, we believe, in the country. The first fastest resiliency center to open was in Orlando, Fla., and they had help from Disney,” she adds. “So, we take a lot of pride in the fact that we were able to at least be a space for people very early, and that was possible because of community partners standing up and stepping into that work with us.”

Nonprofits and volunteers throughout the state flooded Lewiston offering services and support which was vital in the Resiliency Center’s initial stages of development. The American Red Cross, the attorney general and district attorney offices, local college students and advocacy groups all came together to build something that the community desperately needed.

Initially, the Maine Resiliency Center was created as a space where people could feel safe but over time it grew to offer services and evolved to suit the needs of participants, especially victim’s families and survivors. The center offered support groups, mental health services, interpreters since the tragedy particularly impacted the deaf community, and advocacy resources.

Community connections

Connections to community partners are also key to the Resiliency Center’s impact.

The sudden loss of loved ones meant that families were left with practical hardships to deal with overnight, such as loss of income, how to maintain their homes with half the income, legal issues, insurance questions and how to handle media requests from reporters.

The center worked with professionals such as lawyers, bankers, media experts and advocates to give participants the opportunity to get the information they needed to find some sense of stability.

One particularly raw moment occurred when the Resiliency Center helped families, friends and survivors privately visit the bowling alley and the bar where the tragedy took place.

“There are so many implications that can happen from bringing somebody into a space where they had such a traumatic event. What I really realized is that people were going to do this with or without support, and so we could either show up and tolerate the discomfort or do everything to make it the safest experience possible,” Parent says.

The Maine Resiliency Center has become a second home to those impacted by the loss of Oct. 25, and its resources have rippled out to anyone affected by trauma or violence, such as families of homicide victims, domestic violence survivors, and witnesses of shootings.

The center’s commitment to community and understanding is open to anyone who needs their resources. While the nonprofit has made a significant impact on Lewiston, sustainability is a concern. Currently, a federal grant for 27 months ensures that the center has funding until early 2026. Talks with legislators and stakeholders are ongoing to ensure the future of the Maine Resiliency Center.

“I think the center gives folks a place to connect to professional staff that have both some lived experience personally and then professional experience to help guide people, and then offers the connection with other individuals that are in the same circumstances. That sort of model of being a community that understands, I think is really meaningful,” Martin says.

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