Courtesy/My Place Teen Center
Donna Dwyer, president and CEO of My Place Teen Center.
Updated: October 22, 2020
Westbrook nonprofit seeks funds to keep new mission going
Courtesy / My Place Teen Center
During the pandemic, Westbrook nonprofit My Place Teen Center has delivered 25,000 free dinners to families in need, and now faces a funding crisis. Staff member Evan Jewell is shown here with the mobile food pantry.
A Westbrook nonprofit that's transformed into a mobile food pantry during the pandemic is determined to overcome a $300,000 shortfall that represents more than a third of its annual operating budget.
MyPlace Teen Center, headed by President and CEO Donna Dwyer, normally provides an after-school oasis for at-risk youth ages 10 to 18 and has an annual operating budget of about $970,000.
During COVID-19 when both schools and the center were closed, it acted to meet the surging and urgent demand for food and wellness checks.
Its initial plan was to offer curbside meals to several hundred families whose teens frequent the center. That quickly expanded to providing free meals for pickup or delivery for anyone in need. As of this month, it has served 25,000 free dinners since the start of the initiative.
With donations drying up during the pandemic as many of its donors experience their own financial hardships, Dwyer is keen to drum up enough funding to keep the mission going.
"We will be writing and submitting grants fast and furious and hoping corporate entities that experienced a boon during the pandemic will support our 2021 endeavors," she told Mainebiz. "And perhaps there are individuals who have the wherewithal and inclination towards our mission.
Dwyer, a 2015 Mainebiz Business Leader of the Year, also said that while the federal Paycheck Protection Program was a "godsend" for her organization, it did not qualify for the Economic Recovery Grant Program since its deficit is occurring now.
"We squeaked through last fiscal year, but this fiscal year is wholly different," she said.
Dwyer also talked about her organization's new mission during the pandemic in the Mainebiz virtual Women's Leadership Forum in June, sharing a story about the time a white woman expended vitriol at seeing My Place Teen Center staff delivering meals to a black family.
The staff member told the woman, "We serve anyone from anywhere, and if you just give us a call, we'll serve you and your neighbors, it doesn't matter where you are."
Dwyer relayed that and another anecdote she said made clear "how important that expression of heart is no matter who you're dealing with."
Dwyer's message to policy makers now: "Nonprofits are the front line of defense, and yet we all have been severely impacted. We are doing more, with much less. Support packages that fund general operating are the most prudent. Policy makers need to understand that this fiscal year will be the most dangerous and telling for Maine nonprofit entities. Yet our services are critical for the public health of the communities we serve."
'Dire' repercussions for communities
My Place Teen Center is among numerous Maine nonprofits struggling to provide services during the pandemic and increased challenges to provide them.
"Any organization that delivers services and programming through human interaction is going to look different than it did pre-COVID,"Sarah Skillin Woodard, advocacy and public affairs director at the Maine Association of Nonprofits, told Mainebiz. "This is true for child care providers, libraries, museums, performing arts, healthcare and many, many others."
"Shifting how we do business this year has been draining and expensive, and this is all happening at a time when revenues are down due to cancellation or reduction in fundraising activities," she added. Until we see additional relief coming from Congress and the state, Maine's nonprofits will be in a perilous position — when nonprofits close, the repercussions on our communities are often dire."
More information
Find out more about My Place Teen Center and ways to give here.
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