Donate now to the Estamos Aquí Mutual Aid Fund to support immigrants and farmworkers in Maine with emergency costs due to the COVID-19 public health emergency.

Immigrant and farmworkers in Maine have already been affected by lost work hours or being laid off completely due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Others are on the front-lines as Essential Workers helping keep all of us safe, healthy, and fed during the emergency.

While governments are providing unemployment assistance and economic impact payments, many community members are not eligible for these supports, and need your support today. Despite the public health emergency, families still need to pay rent/utilities, buy groceries, and more.

Mano en Mano's Estamos Aquí Fund is a mutual aid fund to support immigrants and farmworkers in Maine with financial challenges associated with COVID-19. Community members can request and receive direct funds for whatever immediate needs they are facing including housing, utilities, food, and more. Awards will be made on a first-come/first-serve basis, generally within seven days.

For the current list of requests and awards, click here. As of June 20, we have made awards totaling $148,719 to support 663 community members across Maine. 90% of requests are for food or housing. Learn more about the impact of the fund from community members.

Please join all of us at Mano en Mano today to support Immigrants and Farmworkers across Maine!

• If you are able to, you can donate to the Fund here. 100% of donations received will go directly to community members within 2 weeks of being received.
• Private Foundations and Donor Advised Funds: You can award funds today to Mano en Mano (EIN: 01-0836208) and we will release payments to community members as soon as you confirm the award (we do not need to wait for payment to arrive).
• Partner Organizations and Volunteers: If you know immigrants or farmworkers in Maine who aren’t able to receive unemployment or economic impact payments, you can complete an application for them. We honor and trust your relationships. Contact us at info@manomaine.org or (207) 546-3006 for the application link.

If you prefer to make a donation by check, you can do that by sending a check payable to "Mano en Mano" to PO Box 573, Milbridge, ME 04658. Please write "Estamos Aquí Fund" in the memo line.

"My husband and I have lived in Lewiston for 10 years. This money has been a blessing. We have almost nothing right now because my husband is a mechanic and at this moment people are choosing to pay bills and their rent and so they aren’t fixing their cars as much. For this reason he still really isn’t working and has been out of work for almost three months, since the middle of March. I volunteer a lot here within the community and don’t have a salary. I try to be positive and keep going forward. But the Coronavirus has made life really difficult for us, and the truth is that we are in a complicated situation because we don’t have an income. In these times you really have to be creative to make ends meet-- making the little food you have last, just eating rice for dinner. It was suggested we apply for the Estamos Aquí fund and really I don’t have the words to explain how grateful I am and how much this money has helped. We really stretched out that money you gave us and paid the water bill, the light bill, bought oil to heat the house and even put a little towards rent. This money was something we didn’t expect and it was really the light and the end of the tunnel. It really arrived at the worst moment of it all and was such a blessing. Here in this country we feel very alone. We don’t have family or support and so this help feels huge. The assistance from Estamos Aquí fund was the gift of security.” -- Estamos Aquí Fund Recipient, Lewiston

"I’m Mexican I have a beautiful family and I’ve lived in the United States for 14 years. I have worked in Maine in agriculture, cleaning, blueberries and sewing and we don’t qualify for help from the government or for unemployment. In my 11 years living in Maine and in the 14 years in the US we have never experienced a situation as difficult as what we are going through now with the Coronavirus. It is very difficult but thanks to organizations like Mano en Mano and its Estamos Aquí fund, we have been able to get help. With the money from Estamos Aquí we were able to shop for food and make payments on bills. We know that we are not alone and that we can count on the support of Mano en Mano. For us as immigrants you give us support and we will continue fighting so that we can get out of this situation. For us as immigrants, receiving this support was essential to us at this time and we will continue fighting to get through this situation. Thank you again for the people who donated their time and money and thank you to the Estamos Aquí fund.” -- Estamos Aquí Fund Recipient, Milbridge

In keeping with our commitment to equity and justice, community members were compensated for their stories separately from receiving funds from Estamos Aquí.

A poem from a community member:

Ayudándonos nos ayudamos Helping each other we help ourselves

Hermanxs ayudando a hermanxs Brothers and sisters helping brothers and sisters

De corazón a corazón From heart to heart