The taxpayer-funded Freeport Community Services (FCS) nonprofit canceled its rental agreement with Parents’ Rights in Education two days before the group was set to rent space for an event featuring former Rep. Heidi Sampson (R-Alfred).
“After thoughtful consideration, the Board decided to cancel the event, exercising our rights under the rental agreement. We understand there are varying perspectives in our community about both hosting and canceling the event, and we hope all concerned will respect this decision,” said FCS on November 13, just one day before the event was scheduled to be held.
The FCS did not explain why they canceled the event with such late notice, but their press release implies that the event was controversial enough that their Board of Directors met specifically to decide whether to allow it to continue.
They also suggest that their desire to “keep our space neutral and in alignment with our overall mission,” informed the decision to cancel the scheduled event.
The event, “The State of Education in Maine – RSU5,” promised to include expert analysis, parents from the local school district, and promised to empower parents, using the tagline “stop messing with our kids.”
According to Form 990 tax filings, FCS brought in $16,000 in taxpayer funded government grants between 2022 and 2023.
The most recent tax filings for Parents Rights in Education show that the non-profit took in $70,488 in 2022, from private grants and contributions.
Despite the taxpayer-funded FCS’ ostensible desire to remain neutral, they have previously partnered with far-left organizations.
In June, the group’s thrift shop announced that the FCS was partnering with the radical proponent of gender ideology for children, Out Maine, another group that has received hundreds of thousands of dollars in taxpayer grants.
FCS actively worked to fundraise for the organization.
Out Maine works to support gender transitions for minors, and, according to tax filings took in $312,742 in taxpayer funding between 2022 and 2023.
In 2022, the “neutral” FCS worked to fund Equality Maine, a far left organization that lobbied in the State House last legislative session for late-term abortion and sex changes for minors.
The non-profit hosts an LGBT youth summer camp that teaches children about “LGBT history.”
The Maine Wire reached out to the FCS, asking why they decided to cancel the parental rights event, why they initially decided to let the group use their space before canceling, and whether they have canceled other events for similar reasons.
FCS Executive Director Sarah Lundin, who lists her pronouns in her email signature, responded but simply parroted the publicly available FCS press release and refused to answer any of The Maine Wire’s questions.
The Maine Wire also reached out to Parents Rights in Education, who stated that the FCS informed them that it disagreed with their organization’s purpose.
Despite the inconvenience caused by the last-minute cancellation, they said that attendance of their event increased.
The Maine Wire also spoke with the Director of Maine’s branch of Parents Rights in Education, Allen Sarvinas.
He believes that the decision to cancel the event was politically motivated and was the result of the FCS board of directors succumbing to a “Reddit pressure campaign.”
“The activists in Freeport who we know work with Portland DSA created a pop-up pressure campaign using Reddit; then a digital X community picked it up because the Reddit commenters were insinuating civil disobedience tactics, and then the Reddit author updated their thread, claiming some counterprotest by our supporters was being organized, which I believe gave FCS an excuse to violate their contract with us. None of it occured or proved true,” said Sarvinas in a follow-up email.
He told The Maine Wire that they were able to convince FCS to refund the money spent on the rental, along with the money spent on insurance for the event.
Non profits need to be investigated.
There are too many and it’s too easy to have one.
They shouldn’t get taxpayer funding.
It is non profits who are bring Joe”s boarder jumpers to Maine.
The FCS needs to be sued. Otherwise, this BS will continue.
Probably half our taxes go to fund these ridiculous “ organizations “ .
Micro tiny sections of the population all getting macro maximum funding from these f—king democrats .
Maine has gone to hell with this government funded virtue signaling .
How about some money for the white working class tax payers who are actually FROM Maine ……
Vote democrats out in 2026.
Just another phony leftist bunch that ‘claim’ to be neutral. Maine is full of liars and phonies and most aren’t Mainers, but are flatlanders that moved up here to screw real Mainers and build up this leftist communist bunch destroying the state. Hundreds of businesses since Herr Mills has become empress with her sycophant minions! The phony democrat party has controlled the state for decades, now we’ve lost countless mountain tops, thousands of acres of farm land to toxic solar fields, exits are littered with solar all that increase electric rates forced on electricity suppliers by laws passed by democrat legislators and governors (King, Baldachi, and Mills). The are destroying the working class forcing people to leave their home state and bringing in more leftists to continue to destruction!!
The usual craven response to the organized cancel mob from a group of grifting, pusillanimous, hypocrites.
So can we assume that you are going to FOAA the funding agreements from whatever agency funds them? Are you going to analyze their Form 990 for which boxes they checked regarding non-political activities – or in other words, should they be a 501c4 instead of a 501c3? Don’t let up until they learn what a non-profit is supposed to be. And yes you can FOAA almost any non-profit that receives taxpayer funds directly or indirectly. Been there, done that.
this is identical to what happened with UMaine and Calvary Chapel. These are Liberal-DemocRAT-Communists and their hate for anyone and anything that does not agree with them knows no bounds. They should be sued and all nonprofits should get zero taxpayer dollars. If they can not survive from donations then they are not worthy to exist.
These predators are blatantly obvious in their co-ordinated efforts to keep their perverted constituency in between the innocent children they prey upon and the parents who provide for and protect them.