LEWISTON — The Maine Community Foundation is facing fresh blowback in the Lewiston shooting fund controversy after emails surfaced showing the foundation’s own consultant told victims’ families that “100% of all donations” would go to victims and survivors, without mentioning nonprofit grants that later became the center of an intensifying public scandal.
The emails, dated Nov. 22, 2023, were sent by Dan Levey, who identified himself as a “Mass Violence Response Consultant” working with the Maine Community Foundation (MCF). In messages to grieving families, Levey offered condolences and assured recipients that “100% of all donations go to the victims/survivors of this tragic event (putting it mildly).”
Levey also told families they were already on the fund’s contact list and would be notified about how and when to “apply” for money, calling the application process “a formality.” The emails did not reference nonprofits, steering committees, or a parallel grant-making process for community organizations.
The resurfaced correspondence is now colliding with a national statement released Feb. 13, 2026, by VictimsFirst, an organization that works with mass casualty victims’ families. VictimsFirst said it is not only speaking as families of mass shootings across the country, but also as one of the largest donors to the Maine Community Foundation’s “Lewiston-Auburn Area Response Fund,” saying it raised more than $240,000 for Lewiston families for the Victims’ and Families Fund.
VictimsFirst acknowledged that 100% of the Victims’ Fund portion went directly to victims and survivors in cash payments and said it appreciated MCF for creating that victims fund. But the organization blasted MCF’s nonprofit portion, saying the foundation’s current posture is not considered “Best Practices” by many long-time mass casualty victims’ families and survivors.
The group said MCF created “unnecessary confusion” by using the umbrella label “Lewiston-Auburn Area Response Fund” to describe both the victims fund and a separate nonprofit fund, language VictimsFirst said conflated “two very different purposes.”
VictimsFirst went further, accusing MCF of running a nonprofit steering committee process that “allowed nonprofit executives to grant money to their own organizations,” calling it “highly unethical in its self-dealing” and “indefensible.”
The organization said donations “were the result of murder, injury, and suffering,” but were granted to various community organizations MCF described as “friends and neighbors” and “the foundation of our community.” It said nonprofits receiving grants of $65,000 or more largely failed to deliver meaningful help to those harmed in the shooting, claiming “90% of them did not ‘respond’ to the needs of people harmed and traumatized from being in the direct line of fire.”
“Obviously, there wasn’t a plan that prioritized victims/survivors with these grants; there was neither a requirement to help nor a thorough vetting process,” VictimsFirst said.
VictimsFirst called on the Maine Community Foundation to “do the right thing” by urging nonprofits that “did not assist the survivors of the Lewiston shooting” to return those grants so the money can be redistributed directly to a “verified victim base.”
The controversy has been pushed into the public spotlight by Amy Sussman, who has emerged as a vocal leader demanding accountability and transparency and pressing officials to prioritize victims and survivors over institutional stakeholders.
The fight has also become a political flashpoint in the 2026 governor’s race. Gubernatorial candidates Bobby Charles and David Jones have been among the most outspoken on the issue, with Jones repeatedly challenging Lewiston city leadership and pressing the Lewiston City Council to address questions surrounding the fund’s structure and the nonprofit payout track.
The renewed scrutiny comes as a resolution tied to the Lewiston-Auburn Area Response Fund is slated to appear on the agenda for Tuesday’s Lewiston City Council meeting, with victims and advocates demanding action and clearer disclosures about how decisions were made.
As the city’s elected leadership considers whether, and how aggressively,to confront the Maine Community Foundation, critics have also raised public questions about potential conflicts of interest involving Lewiston Mayor Carl Sheline and City Council President David Chittim on the reminder of the Response Fund controversy.
At the center of the growing storm is a simple claim — “100% of all donations” — now being weighed against what victims’ advocates describe as a nonprofit grant system that put community organizations in the payout line alongside the people who were shot, wounded, or left burying loved ones.
