Lewiston-Auburn Area Response Fund

To Our Community

Feb. 9, 2026

On Oct. 25, 2023, 18 members of the Lewiston-Auburn community were killed during the deadliest mass shootings in Maine’s history. Many were injured and many sustained psychological trauma. The ripple effects from this tragedy reached all corners of the state.

In the face of unimaginable grief and pain, people from across the Lewiston-Auburn area –including first responders, medical workers, faith leaders, government officials, community groups and businesses – stepped up in the state’s darkest hours. Neighbors consoled neighbors. On Lisbon Street downtown, paper hearts stapled to trees read: “To my city”; “To my neighbor”; and “Lewiston Strong.”

Like so many others, the Maine Community Foundation wanted to do what it could to help. So, we quickly engaged a nationally recognized victims advocate and based on his guidance, established two response funds. One fund was for victims and their families and the other was to support broader recovery efforts led by local organizations in the community.

We collected more than 5,300 donations – more than double the number of gifts the foundation typically receives in a year – from people throughout the globe. We received donations from people in almost every state, including thousands of gifts under $50, extraordinary contributions from Maine businesses, envelopes with small amounts of cash dropped off at our offices, and even a check from parents at a child care center who had passed the hat to help how they could. Our process had a clear purpose: to support victims and the Lewiston-Auburn community in their recovery.

Thanks to the generosity of these donors, 161 victims and their families received financial support for their medical bills, lost wages, emotional trauma or whatever else they needed. Was it enough? No amount could ever be.

Thanks to the generosity of those donors, 29 charitable organizations based in the Lewiston-Auburn area received the support they needed to provide food and supplies to victims, emergency mental health services to kids, child care and after-school programs to families while schools were closed during the lockdown and so much more. Let me share just a few examples of how these organizations used resources from the Broad Recovery Efforts & Organizations Fund:

Tri-County Mental Health Services (now part of Spurwink Services) provided a wide range of mental health support for survivors, first responders, and community members, setting up services at the Ramada Inn, Lewiston City Hall and libraries in the weeks following the tragedy.
Maine Resiliency Center was founded in Lewiston in the wake of the shootings and to this day is still providing support, resources and hope to victims and members of the community who were impacted by this tragedy.
Generational Noor expanded its mental health resources for youth, including group counseling, peer support, workshops and community safety forums to help process grief and trauma caused by the shootings.
Maine MILL organized a memorial of items left at the shooting sites, preserving the community’s response to the tragedy and creating a space for people to reflect and heal.

The Maine Community Foundation stands by – and will continue to support – charitable organizations in the Lewiston-Auburn community for the important work they did in the aftermath of the shootings and continue to do. These organizations are led by our friends and neighbors. They are at the foundation of our community. They care and give – not just during moments of unthinkable tragedy – but every day, in every community across this great state of Maine that we all love and call home.

That is what we do every day at the Maine Community Foundation. We bring people and resources together for a better Maine. In partnership. In community. For 43 years and counting.

For more information on the Maine Community Foundation and the entire process we undertook after the Lewiston shootings, please see below. If you have any questions, please reach out to our team directly at info@mainecf.org.

Thank you.