A $7,500 grant awarded to Finding Our Voices by First National Bank is funding safety and peace for Maine women and children who are domestic abuse survivors and a groundbreaking dating-abuse prevention program for teens, according to FOV, in a news release.

$5,000 of this 2026 grant is earmarked for the grassroots nonprofit's Get Out Stay Out fund that pays for critical items for low-income women domestic abuse survivors including security deposits, car repairs and gas cards, legal help, and phones. The grant is also helping Finding Our Voices bring its Love/not Love Healthy Relationship program to teens in Knox, Waldo, Lincoln, Hancock and Washington counties through classroom visits that include a young person sharing their story of dating abuse. Finding Our Voices spent one to two days at each of 16 middle and high schools this year and will resume the  our in the fall with a focus on rural communities. 

First National Bank is the lead sponsor of the Midcoast Maine Into the Light! Yellow Festival that returns for the fourth year in July. In the annual fundraiser, businesses promote a yellow menu or retail item for the month of July, donating part of the proceeds to Finding Our Voices. Yellow is the color of Finding Our Voices, according to CEO and founder Patrisha McLean, "because we are survivors who have managed to cross over to the bright side of safety and freedom, shining a light for our sisters who are still in the dark."

“Finding Our Voices is creating meaningful change across Maine through support, education, and advocacy,” said Michelle Curtis, Vice President, Community Engagement and Business Development Officer at First National Bank, in the FOV news release. “We’re proud to support their work and the impact they’re making in our communities.”  

Said McLean, "the strong support of First National Bank is bringing light to countless of the most vulnerable members of our community. We are grateful and excited for the solar power they are providing to our July Yellow Festival and school visits." 

Finding Our Voices is the grassroots nonprofit breaking the silence of domestic abuse and providing heart-healing and life-mending support and resources to women survivors and their children including the Finding Our Voices program of donated dental care, Get Out Stay Out funding, a weekly online support group, and Healing Together retreats. For more information visit https://findingourvoices.net