Record broken! Nearly $600,000 raised at Sweetser's 34th annual Auction and Gala
Thursday was a record-breaking night for youth mental health funding in Maine, with nearly $600,000 raised at Sweetser's 34th annual Auction and Gal[a]. Funds raised are going towards construction of Maine's first youth psychiatric residential facility in Saco.
"Thirty-five other states have such a facility, and Maine deserves one. We should not be sending youth out of state to languish in an emergency room," said Justin Chenette, Sweetser's Chief Communications Officer.
Chenette said parents often have to send children to facilities in states as far as Florida or Oklahoma. He said other Northern New England states like New Hampshire and Vermont also lack these types of facilities.
WMTW's own Meghan Torjussen and Jon Chrisos co-hosted the event. Torjussen spoke about a recent conversation she had with Sweetser's CEO about the anticipation for the facility.
"When they broke ground back in June, she was telling me families were already reaching out to be on waiting lists to get into this kind of facility."
WMTW is a proud broadcast partner of Sweetser's 34th annual Auction and Gala.