Jamie Caouette, left, director of The Store Next Door, and Joel Morse sort through donated clothing in November 2022 at the Longley School at 145 Birch St. in Lewiston. On Tuesday, the nonprofit received a $5,700 donation from the philanthropic group 100+ Women Who Care Androscoggin to provide school supplies to students. Andree Kehn/Sun Journal file photo

LEWISTON — Store Next Door Director Jamie Caouette accepted a $5,700 donation Tuesday from 100+ Women Who Care Androscoggin, a recently established philanthropic group.

It was a welcome gift after a contentious school budget season.

With a stack of checks from nearly all of the 120 women, donations totaled $5,700. The presentation was made at the Longley School on Birch Street, home of the Store Next Door.

Coming into a new school year when disadvantaged students are in need of school supplies and other items to support their education, the money will go toward back-to-school supplies, food to stock up the Store Next Door’s food pantry and other items, Caouette said.

Student needs have only grown as the number of homeless students ballooned last school year to the highest Caouette has seen since she started working for Lewiston Public Schools 16 years ago, she said.

The Store Next Door does not turn away any Lewiston Public School student in need of personal hygiene items, clothes, food, school supplies and other items it stocks, she said.

“We don’t want the kids to miss a beat, or school, because they don’t have clothes or something,” she said.

It is that spirit of helping that motivated 100+ Women Who Care member and Lewiston Adult Education Assistant Director Razell Ward to nominate the Store Next Door at the last meeting, she said. “It’s always captured my heart,” she said.

The group meets quarterly and pledges to donate $50 each to whatever nonprofit or community organization is selected, she said.

At each meeting, members write down the name of a nonprofit or community organization they feel should get that quarter’s donation and the names are placed in a hat, she said. Three names are drawn and the members who nominated those organizations have 10 minutes to explain why that organization deserves the money.

The winning organization is selected by majority vote.

Ward’s presentation highlighted all the good the Store Next Door has done for students and families, along with testimonials from people who have benefited from its services. It touched the hearts of group members, Marty McIntyre, founder of 100+ Women Who Care, said.

McIntyre established the group in October 2023, after the pandemic delayed her plans, she said.

There are 100+ Women Who Care groups nationally. McIntyre heard about the group through a friend who joined a chapter in southern Maine. “And I thought, we can do that here,” she said.

The Store Next Door donation is the group’s third, with Calvary United Methodist Church’s City Mission and the YWCA Central Maine’s Summer Camp program getting the first two donations, she said. Members can nominate nonprofits or community organizations from across Androscoggin County.

For Caouette, the donation gives her a renewed sense of support from the community after two failed school budget votes last spring, she said. The school budget finally passed this summer after school officials made cuts.

As a parent, she understands the financial pinch people are feeling, she said, but students are the future and the community needs to invest in its future.

Caouette wants homeless students and those living in adverse home situations to feel comfortable at school and like they are not that different than their peers, she said. The donation will help provide those students with needed items to accomplish that goal.

“We are always going to fight for our kids,” she said. “We really do care about all of our kids, and our community and our youth, so we’re always going to figure out a way to make it happen.”

For more information on 100+ Women Who Care, email McIntyre at 100womenwhocareandroscoggin@gmail.com. To reach Caouette at the Store Next Door email jcaouette@lewistonpublicschools.org.