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Portland Nonprofits That Helped Asylum Seekers May Apply To Be Reimbursed

Patty Wight
/
Maine Public/file
Cots were set up at the Portland Expo for hundreds of asylum seekers who arrived in Portland last summer.

The city of Portland is preparing to accept applications to reimburse nonprofits for contributions they made to the care of hundreds of asylum seekers who arrived in Portland this summer.

The city operated its first ever 24/7 emergency family shelter in the Portland Expo from June to August.

“There certainly is a large enough pot of money right now that we definitely want to be able to assist those groups that made our effort such a success this summer.”

City spokesperson Jessica Grondin says the reimbursements will come from a fund of more than $900,000 from more than 4000 donors across the country.

“I don't know exactly how much will be disbursed at this point, but we are looking forward to seeing the applications that we receive and reviewing them as quickly as possible,” she says.

Grondin says organizations can connect to the program via email: ASDonations@portlandmaine.gov.

Originally published Nov. 25, 2019 at 8:20 p.m. ET.

Ed is a Maine native who spent his early childhood in Livermore Falls before moving to Farmington. He graduated from Mount Blue High School in 1970 before going to the University of Maine at Orono where he received his BA in speech in 1974 with a broadcast concentration. It was during that time that he first became involved with public broadcasting. He served as an intern for what was then called MPBN TV and also did volunteer work for MPBN Radio.