Westbrook’s My Place Teen Center Receives $10,000 Grant from Tom’s of Maine’s “50 States for Good” Program

(Westbrook, Maine) – Clearly, My Place Teen Center (MPTC) of Westbrook is on a roll.

Today MPTC announces that it has received a grant in the amount of $10,000 from the “50 States for Good” program administered by Tom’s of Maine. MPTC executive director Donna Dwyer says the money will be used to support their highly regarded Youth Leadership Academy, which has long been on the agency’s wish list as it works with at-risk teens and pre-teens to keep them focused on a path that will one day make them productive adult members of society.

The award comes only two weeks after having its quarter-million dollar mortgage on its Main Street property paid off as part of a grant from the Maine-based Next Generation Foundation, and two months after being named the state’s “Agency of Distinction” in WCSH-TV’s annual “6 Who Care” awards ceremony, which recognizes six individual volunteers and only one non-profit in Maine – which also receives thousands of dollars in free publicity – each year for outstanding service to the community.

“We’ve been blessed this year, no question,” says Dwyer, “but in addition to the good fortune, it’s also evident to the community and our funders that we are literally transforming the lives of hundreds of kids, and that benefits the entire region, not just Westbrook.”

This year, Tom’s of Maine is donating a portion of its profits to one single non-profit organization in each of the 50 states and the District of Columbia. The company has been giving away a portion of its profits since its founding in 1970, but this year marks the first time it has done so in every state in America.

“So many important grassroots organizations bring goodness to communities every day,” said Susan Dewhirst, goodness programs manager at Tom’s of Maine. “For the first time we’re awarding more than $500,000 in project funding for non-profits that will go directly towards helping people nationwide and the planet.”

That amount represents more than triple the overall sum awarded last year. In 2013, Maine’s winning organization was the Michael T. Goulet Traumatic Brain Injury and Epilepsy Foundation of Saco, which also received $10,000 from Tom’s of Maine.

Winning non-profits from each state were selected from a pool of nearly 3,000 nominations by a passionate panel of judges representing a variety of unique perspectives on human and environmental well-being.

Tom’s of Maine is a leading natural products company focused on oral and personal care with products such as toothpaste, mouthwash, dental floss, antiperspirant, deodorant and bar soap products. The company has a long-standing commitment to supporting people, communities and the planet. For almost 45 years, Tom’s of Maine has sponsored hundreds of non-profit efforts by giving ten percent of its profits back to organizations that support human and environmental causes and by encouraging employees to use five percent of employee time (or 12 days) to volunteer at the non-profits of their choice.