Portland Altrusa honors longtime hospice volunteer

A woman who has dedicated more than 15 years as a volunteer with Hospice of Southern Maine has been honored as the Portland Altrusa Club’s Volunteer of the Year.

Hendrix

Cathy Hendrix was nominated by Kathleen Leddy, volunteer services manager for Hospice of Southern Maine, who said Hendrix has served over 17 years as a volunteer, providing an average of over 250 hours of service each year. She has been a direct care volunteer, providing comfort, compassion and care to individuals through the end of life, and also provided respite care to allow caregivers time away. Hendrix has served as a mentor to new volunteers, provided guidance through job shadowing and sits on the volunteer training panel, sharing her experiences and knowledge.

According to Leddy, Hendrix has provided all manner of assistance to the Thresholds Conference, which provides the terminally ill and their caregivers with the tools necessary to confront death. And she has been a volunteer leader for the Twilight in the Park event, which is held each fall in memoriam of individuals who have died.

Hendrix also volunteers her administrative expertise as the sole volunteer tasked with assisting the finance team with boxing, labeling and filing year-end documents.

Leddy said she does all this “with amazing grace.”

Altrusa will present a check for $250 to Hospice of Southern Maine in Hendrix’ honor and her name will be added to the Volunteer of the Year plaque.

Since 2005, Portland Altrusa has chosen a volunteer of the year after contacting more than 100 local nonprofits to request that they nominate that special someone who exemplifies the principles of service to the community, someone who is simply an outstanding volunteer and really deserves this public recognition. A committee then reviews the nominations and chooses an outstanding volunteer to honor.

Granted

The Maine Community Foundation has awarded $219,800 in grants, including: the Gulf of Maine Research Institute in Portland, to help coastal communities develop plans to address sea-level rise; Maine Coast Fishermen’s Association in Brunswick to create a guide for fishermen with resources about mental health, wellness and well-being; and OUT Maine, based in Rockland, to develop trainings to educate decision-makers on how to create safety for LGBTQ+ youth.

Nonprofits that serve Maine people most affected by the coronavirus pandemic have been awarded $1.2 million from Maine Community Foundation’s COVID-19 Emergency Response Fund and a fund for food security, to provide basic support such as food, shelter, child care, mental health and domestic violence services. A complete list of COVID-19 Fund grantees is on available on the foundation’s website, maincf.org.

Over 300 small businesses in Southern Maine received help and access to the SBA Paycheck Protection Program through Evergreen Credit Union, representing over $8 million funded; see egcu.org/PPP.

Since March 23, the Sam L. Cohen Foundation has distributed emergency funds of $520,000 awarded in two rounds to 31 nonprofits and community relief funds that provide programs for low-income individuals and those experiencing homelessness, health care, mental health and elder care, food programs, and COVID-19 Community Reliefs Funds in Cumberland and York counties ($50,000).

In its first year of grantmaking, the Maine Community Foundation’s Start Up/Scale Up Grant Program is providing $200,000 to 10 Maine nonprofit organizations that are helping new ventures start and grow through shared work spaces and incubator and accelerator programs. The 2020 grantees include Coastal Enterprises, Inc., Brunswick, to expand its programming to support, advise and guide rural women entrepreneurs, and New England Arab American Organization, Portland, to launch an entrepreneurship program for Arab American and New Mainer women.