This program was approved by the Town Council at its meeting on Thursday, April 2nd. Its purpose is to help provide a bridge for residents who have lost jobs and small businesses who have lost business or been forced to close until State and Federal programs become available. The Town is fortunate to have the funds to do this because of the decades of sound fiscal management by its elected officials.
Original amounts in the proposal were $100 for food gift cards per household and $500 per small business owner. A generous donation by former Bucksport residents Andrew and Shelby Silvernail have allowed us to increase those amounts to $150 for food gift cards and $600 for business grants. We have also eliminated the senior meals program fee through the Senior Citizens Center during this state of emergency. The Town will be providing $7500 donations to Bucksport Community Concerns and an equal amount to HOME, Inc. for their work to provide food and other needs during pandemic, an increase of $2500 each thanks to the generosity of the Silvernails.
To qualify for these programs, you must meet the following guidelines:
Food Gift Card Program – You must have been a Bucksport resident from March 1, 2020 forward, and you must have been laid off or had your hours significantly reduced during the state of emergency due to the COVID 19 pandemic. It is one gift card per household. This is a pay it forward program and we ask you to commit to doing something good in return for participating in this program and sending us information or a photo showing what that was so that we can post it on our FB page in the hope that it inspires others to do good works in the community.
Small Business Grant Program – You must have had a small business in Bucksport during this state of emergency and either been forced to close or seen a reduction in revenues associated with the state of emergency of 25% of more. In this program also we ask recipients to do something good and send us a photo or note so that we can post it on our Facebook page and website to inspire others to do good works in the community.
********IMPORTANT INFORMATION********
The Pay It Forward Bucksport program will begin accepting applications on Monday, April 6, 2020. DO NOT COME TO THE TOWN OFFICE FOR AN APPLICATION. Details on how to apply will be on the Town website at
www.bucksportmaine.gov
on Monday morning. Be safe, be kind, stay home if you can – be Bucksport Strong!
