UMC has long community roots

United Midcoast Charities got its start in 1942 when a group of Camden citizens agreed to collectively raise money and then distribute it to worthy organizations.

Its original mission was to raise the standard of living, provide help for those in need, as well as the chance of education, particularly for young mothers.

That year, the fledgling organization then known as United Camden Charities, raised $5,569 and distributed it to Camden District Nursing Association, Camden Community Hospital, the Boy Scouts, Camden Red Cross Workroom, the YMCA and Barrett's Cove, on Megunticook Lake.

Economic strains then reflected a time when the Midcoast was beginning to feel its way past the Great Depression, and World War II was calling young men to serve.

In 1942, the population of Knox County was 27,191; Waldo County, 21,159.

Today, the population of Knox is approximately 40,000 and Waldo, 39,000.

The UMC founders set three tenets that first year:

1) All funds contributed were to be distributed;

2) The organization was to remain all-volunteer, with no paid employees; and,

3) An endowment to pay all the expenses would be established.

The next year, 1943, J. Hugh Montgomery, Edward Cornelis, Charles Seaverns, Francis Gilbert, Bertha Clason, Emma Alden, Clayton McCobb, C.W. Babb, Jr., Helen Hubbard Dodge, Percy Keller, Gilbert Laite, Milford Payson, and Zlatko Balokovic created a $1,000 endowment to pay for organizational expenses.

In 1949, the United Camden Charities became the United Camden-Rockport Charities, and then in 1995, it was changed again to United Mid-Coast Charities.

That year, the mission evolved to specify support for charities that provide social services and care to the ‘most deserving, including medical, physical, social, psychiatric or community educational services.’

The endowment grew to $1.5 million, thanks to a $500,000 bequest by Dotha Wellborn, who lived on Megunticook Lake.

She would donate every year to UMCC, approximately $1,000 to $1,500. 

In the last few years, and despite the financial turbulence following the theft of $4.6 million from the UMC by former board president Rusty Brace, the assets, per the nonprofits 2015 tax filing, reached $4.3 million.

And, it continues in the path of its original mission, adjusted somewhat, but nonetheless, to provide help for those in need.

Recovering the charitable donations stolen by Rusty Brace

When former U.S. Attorney Jay McCloskey represented UMC in its fight to reclaim the $4.6 million from the bank accounts and real estate holdings of Rusty Brace, he pledged that, “at the end of the day, I think the charity will recover a substantial portion of the money that was stolen from it.”

(Following ‘reign of theft’, judge sentences Rusty Brace to four years in prison)

The Internal Revenue Service, in 2016, succinctly summed up the situation:

‘On Oct. 9, 2015, in Portland, Maine, Russell W. Brace, a/k/a ‘Rusty,’ of Camden, was sentenced to 48 months in prison, two years of supervised release and ordered to pay full restitution. He pleaded guilty to mail and tax fraud on May 29, 2015. According to court documents, between about July 1999 and Sept. 25, 2014, Brace, the president and director of United Mid-Coast Charities, Inc., fraudulently obtained $4,646,636 by claiming that monies donated to UMCC, would be used for UMCC’s charitable purposes and not diverted for the defendant’s personal expenses or benefit. In fact, Brace diverted the funds into his own accounts and used them for his benefit and to pay personal expenses. To execute the scheme, he used the U.S. Postal Service to mail donation request letters, UMCC brochures, self-mailer remittance envelopes and thank-you letters. Brace failed to report the money he obtained as income on annual federal tax returns thus failing to pay almost $390,000 in taxes. He also filed false non-profit income tax returns for UMCC in which he failed to disclose the funds he illegally obtained.”

In the end, investigators were unable to trace more than $1 million of what Brace had taken over the 15 years.

At his 2015 sentencing hearing in in federal district court, the judge ordered Brace to serve four years of prison and to pay restitution of $3,617,475.45, most of which would eventually make its way back to UMC.

“Because the board [UMC] acted so swiftly, the charity became first in line,” said Williams, to recover money stolen by Brace.

The $3.6 million he was to repay included:

$2,167,474 to United Midcoast Charities

$219,269 to the Crime Victims Fund

$1,230,730 to Travelers Casualty and Surety Company.

By 2018, UMC had seen approximately $2.7 million returned through the sale of real estate properties. They included.

• 21 Elm St., Camden, an office building assessed by the town at $1.7 million. The building had been listed at $2.3 million. It sold in 2015 for $1.3 million.

• 39 Spruce St., Rockport, a house and land assessed at $774,800; the house was on the market at $895.000. It sold in 2017 for $572,000.

• House and land at 51 Alpine Way in Rangeley, with assessed value approximately $290,000. The house was on the market for $399,800. It sold for $229,000.

The restitution ordered by the judge to Traveler’s Insurance also wound its way back to UMC through a bank settlement.

Today, Brace is in a Minnesota prison, FMC Rochester, an administrative security federal medical center, with 651 inmates.

According to an audit of that particular prison, it has a Medical Surgical Unit, a Mental Health Unit, and a Work Cadre Unit.

It formerly was Rochester State Hospital, a Minnesota state mental health facility dating back to January 1879.

Its mission is “to provide competent and appropriate medical, dental, and mental health care to offenders while protecting society by confining offenders in a humane, secure, and cost-efficient environment.”

The type of housing varies within each housing unit. Sleeping quarters range from single occupancy rooms for long-term care to open dormitory arrangements. 

“Approximately 50 percent of the population is in need of some type of care; the other 50 percent of the population is composed of healthy offenders assigned to the performance of different jobs essential to the maintenance and operations of the facility,” the audit said.

Brace is due for release in April 2019. In the meantime, a periodic check arrives to the UMC post office box from the federal prison in Minnesota.

Generally amounting to $25, the check represents compensation for the work Brace does in prison.

The money goes right back into UMC’s funds to promote the welfare of Knox and Waldo county residents.

For Williams, the Brace years of UMC are over. She wants to move the organization forward and has no reason to dwell on what happened.

“We closed on that chapter,” she said. 

Nonprofits in Knox and Waldo counties regard UMC support as a de facto “seal of approval,” which by extension reinforces their own fundraising, said Williams. Last year, 70 applications arrived at UMC’s office pursuing donations.

“UMC is uniquely positioned to best leverage donations across our community,” said Meredith Batley, Executive Director of Knox County Health Clinic. “Generous grants from UMC have been vital to our successful expansion of services over the past several years, enabling us to provide medical, dental and mental health care to hundreds of more uninsured local families. We applaud their new efforts to rally local nonprofits together to share knowledge and resources.”

The various UMC subcommittees are working on their tasks. The development committee, which produces two annual appeal mailings, is gearing up for its spring drive. 

Others are reviewing the applications that have arrived so, talking with their principals and reviewing their plans. 

They are also tuning the workplace giving plans. Fisher Engineering, UMaine, Broadreach, Pen Bay Healthcare, Waldo County YMCA and Maine State Employees participate in the program, which involves offering employees the opportunity to register for automatic payroll deductions to UMC.

And, Williams is also on the road representing the public face of UMC, talking to the local rotary clubs, Kiwanis, and other social organizations.

New mission, goals, values

Besides stepping outside the administrative structure built in 1942 and hiring staff, UMC is also refining its focus areas. 

 “Identifying needs, supporting solutions,” is the new mission tagline.

“Our mission is to energize Midcoast Maine nonprofit agencies through finance and guidance, supporting a network of resources stronger than any single organization. Our areas of focus are food, housing, health and safety, and economic security.”

UMC’s rationale for concentrating the focus follows:

HOUSING: Statistics from the Maine State Housing Authority show that the average monthly rent in Knox and Waldo counties is unaffordable to more than 50% of the population. The report also states that home ownership is not affordable for 53 percent of Knox county and 54 percent of Waldo county residents. The only homeless shelter in the two counties is able to shelter just 5-10 percent of their caseload.

HEALTH AND SAFETY: Health and poverty are inextricably linked. When people are healthy and safe, they have a better chance of moving out of poverty. Poor health and unsafe conditions reduce a family’s work and educational productivity. Access to health care in Knox and Waldo Counties is are below the state average, with a lack of care due to cost and lack of insurance being factors. Maine is also number six in the nation for our rate of domestic violence murders.

ECONOMIC SECURITY: Only two-thirds of Maine’s workforce of 620,000 people earn a living wage. The ability of individuals, households or communities to cover their essential needs sustainably and with dignity is crucial to our neighbors’ wellbeing. Financial security is in part dependent on education, job skills training, even transportation and access to childcare.