Women,Work and Community mini-grants for marketing projects

16 years ago

    FORT KENT — Maine Centers for Women, Work, and Community recently awarded two collaborative marketing mini-grants to business networks in the St. John Valley.

Image    Contributed photo
    Members of the new Snow Dog Adventures network are, from left: Kevin Quist and Lindy Howe, both mushers from Stockholm; Tenley Bennet of Fish River Lodge in Eagle Lake, and Larry Murphy, musher from Fort Kent, with one of his sled dogs. The group looks to launch a collaborative Web site, snowdogadventures.com promoting their joint sled dog adventure school to be started this winter.

    Women, Work, and Community’s local grants committee awarded $400 to the new Snow Dog Adventures group to launch a collaborative Web site, snowdogadventures.com, promoting their joint sled dog adventure school to be launched this winter. The Snow Dog Adventures network is comprised of Tenley Bennett at Fish River Lodge in Eagle Lake, mushers Lindy Howe and Kevin Quist from Stockholm, and musher Larry Murphy from Fort Kent.    
    The grants committee also awarded $115 to a Fort Kent healing arts collaborative to support joint promotional materials for their healing arts booth at the Fort Kent Muskie Derby. The healing arts group is comprised of Healing Touch practitioner and holistic nurse Marie Danielle Leblanc, chiropractor Roger Nadeau, acupuncturist and oriental medicine practitioner Chris Mayer, and massage therapist Sherry Stedt.
    Erica Quin-Easter, microenterprise coordinator for Women, Work, and Community and the staff representative to the grant-making committee, noted, “These small grants have a big impact on our community. Business owners who work together to create new markets and reach new customers will succeed and grow even in a slow economy. The two collaborative projects we funded will bring new services, increased visibility, and mutually beneficial marketing to Aroostook County businesses.”
    The mini-grants program at Women, Work, and Community is funded by the Maine Women’s Fund and the Aroostook County Fund of the Maine Community Foundation. The program is part of the Aroostook Network of Entrepreneurial Women (ANEW), a larger project that aims to connect creative entrepreneurs throughout Aroostook County to strengthen business skills and success. ANEW offers networking events, skill-building workshops, and mini-grant programs throughout Aroostook County.
    The first grants in the program were made available specifically for business networks in the St. John Valley, with future grant making to follow later this year in central and southern Aroostook.
    For more information, contact Women, Work, and Community at 764-0050.