A $50,000 gift match challenge to a local nonprofit by an anonymous donor for Giving Tuesday will make a huge difference for Mainers living with disabilities, said Living Innovations Community Resource Manager Angelina Jackman.
“We have a donor that has given us a gift challenge. If we can raise $50,000 as an organization on Giving Tuesday, he will match it,” she said. “That’s pretty huge. That’s astronomically huge.”
Falling on the day after Cyber Monday, Giving Tuesday was created in 2012 for people to do generous acts for neighbors like painting and yard work or to donate labor or money to local nonprofits. For people with disabilities who are supported by Living Innovations, it makes a difference in daily survival, she said.
Worries about how to pay $7 for a bottle of medicated shampoo or new glasses broken during a seizure take the place of holiday primping, decorations and an ever-growing Santa gift list, she added.
“Giving Tuesday hits right around the holiday and many of our folks don’t have anyone to share or spend Christmas with,” she said. “And some of them wonder how they are going to pay for their heat instead of worrying about what they’re going to get for Christmas. We would love to raise $50,000. It would really impact hundreds of people’s lives.”
Living Innovations is a regional nonprofit and service organization supporting individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities across Maine, New Hampshire and Rhode Island. They support about 2,000 people — from children to people in their late 80s – in Maine alone.
Hundreds of people in the local community rely on Jackman and other staff for their day-to-day life, making sure they take their medications, go to doctor’s appointments, find jobs and in many ways live meaningful lives. As part of their work, staff help people live independently, teaching them the skills to do so.
But there are still times when they need extra support, such when the stove is a safety hazard and they have no means to cook, or they want to take a CPR class or buy non-slip shoes for work.
People take many things for granted, Jackman said.
For some of the people she works with, just getting to the store or a job is an extra challenge because they don’t have driver’s licenses or family in the area to help.
“When they come to us they don’t have a winter coat, or they want to get their first job, but they’ve never had a state ID, because they can’t afford it and they can’t drive all the way to Caribou to get one,” Jackman said.
This is where the Giving Tuesday match dollars will help, she said.
Jackman shared success stories of people Living Innovations supports, such as Patrick Duff-Hebert, who has been working for more than three years at the Northeastland Hotel in Presque Isle, and Noah Plavnik, who started his own successful Caribou-based house painting business, Big Moose Painting. She recalled people in their 50s who have never been to a movie theater and people staff have taught to hike, kayak and ride bikes.
Duff-Hebert said in a recent video that his job gives him the chance to get out into the community, connect with people and earn his own paycheck.
Then there is Caribou violinist Christiano Belzaire.
When Belzaire first went to Living Innovations, his work sheet said he could stock shelves. But what he really wanted was to play violin. The team got to work to make that possible.
“He never had a new violin to call his own. We worked with vocational rehab and the Mini Music Store, who donated half of the cost of the violin, to make sure he could afford it,” Jackman said.
Living Innovations can use donor funds for many reasons, but 100% of any funds raised goes to the people it supports, she said.
“We are very good stewards of the money that is given to us. We share back with our donors how the money has impacted us,” Jackman said. “You can see the work day after day. We invite our donors to come to our events and meet our individuals.”
To donate to Living Innovations on Giving Tuesday, visit their webpage. Jackman pointed to the $5 button on the site.
“That $5 could mean the difference between an individual having a shirt to land their first job, somebody getting a healthy meal or an oven mitt so they can take a pan out of the stove safely,” she said. “Whatever it is, all those little things we take for granted every day would help.”
