{"id":99490,"date":"2026-05-30T07:03:10","date_gmt":"2026-05-30T11:03:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mainestategrange.org\/?p=99490"},"modified":"2026-05-30T07:03:10","modified_gmt":"2026-05-30T11:03:10","slug":"emergency-relief-fund","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mainestategrange.org\/?p=99490","title":{"rendered":"Emergency Relief Fund:"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">\u202fSupporting Those Impacted by the Searsmont Lumber Mill Explosion<\/h3>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"alignleft size-medium\"><a href=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mainestategrange.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/helping_hand_silouette_800_clr_20643.png?ssl=1\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"146\" height=\"300\" data-attachment-id=\"99491\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/mainestategrange.org\/?attachment_id=99491\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mainestategrange.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/helping_hand_silouette_800_clr_20643.png?fit=388%2C800&amp;ssl=1\" data-orig-size=\"388,800\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;alt&quot;:&quot;&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"helping_hand_silouette_800_clr_20643\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mainestategrange.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/helping_hand_silouette_800_clr_20643.png?fit=388%2C800&amp;ssl=1\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mainestategrange.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/helping_hand_silouette_800_clr_20643.png?resize=146%2C300&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-99491\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mainestategrange.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/helping_hand_silouette_800_clr_20643.png?resize=146%2C300&amp;ssl=1 146w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mainestategrange.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/helping_hand_silouette_800_clr_20643.png?w=388&amp;ssl=1 388w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 146px) 85vw, 146px\" \/><\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">On May 15th, a devastating fire and explosion occurred at the Robbins Lumber mill in Searsmont, Maine, after&nbsp;crews&nbsp;responded to a fire in one of the mill\u2019s silos. The incident&nbsp;prompted a mass-casualty&nbsp;response involving multiple fire departments, first responders, emergency agencies, and hospitals across Maine. Firefighter Andrew Cross tragically lost his life, at least 11 individuals were injured, and several people&nbsp;remain&nbsp;in serious and critical condition following the explosion.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Many individuals, families, firefighters, and first responders are now facing the physical, emotional, and financial impacts of this tragedy. Recovery from injuries, time away from work, travel for medical care, funeral expenses, and other unexpected hardships may place significant strain on those affected in the days and weeks ahead.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The <strong>Maine Strong Memorial Foundation<\/strong> has launched this designated Emergency Relief Fund to support the confirmed individuals and families\u00a0impacted\u00a0by the Searsmont lumber mill explosion. This fund will help provide immediate financial relief during this\u00a0difficult time.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Foundation is continuing to work directly with Town of Searsmont officials, local contacts, community representatives, and affected families throughout the campaign in a collaborative and unified effort to help confirm impacted individuals, coordinate support efforts, and ensure funds are distributed responsibly and transparently as additional information continues to emerge.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">As part of this effort, the Maine Strong Memorial Foundation will also provide up to an&nbsp;additional&nbsp;$1,000 in support for each confirmed individual directly&nbsp;impacted&nbsp;by this tragedy, including the family of firefighter Andrew Cross.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">100% of all donations made through this campaign will go directly toward supporting the confirmed individuals and families&nbsp;impacted&nbsp;by this tragedy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-buttons is-content-justification-center is-layout-flex wp-container-core-buttons-is-layout-fe48e5de wp-block-buttons-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-button\"><a class=\"wp-block-button__link has-dark-red-background-color has-background wp-element-button\" href=\"https:\/\/givebutter.com\/msmfemergencyfund-searsmontexplosion\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">More information and to donate<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u202fSupporting Those Impacted by the Searsmont Lumber Mill Explosion On May 15th, a devastating fire and explosion occurred at the Robbins Lumber mill in Searsmont, Maine, after&nbsp;crews&nbsp;responded to a fire in one of the mill\u2019s silos. The incident&nbsp;prompted a mass-casualty&nbsp;response involving multiple fire departments, first responders, emergency agencies, and hospitals across Maine. Firefighter Andrew Cross &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/mainestategrange.org\/?p=99490\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;Emergency Relief Fund:&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2122,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[165,4,42],"tags":[206,800,799,798],"post_folder":[372],"class_list":["post-99490","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-communication-2","category-community-service","category-fund-raising-2","tag-grange-advocacy","tag-maine-strong-memorial-foundation","tag-robbins-lumber","tag-searsmont-maine"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":false,"thumbnail":false,"medium":false,"medium_large":false,"large":false,"1536x1536":false,"2048x2048":false,"post-thumbnail":false},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"Walter Boomsma","author_link":"https:\/\/mainestategrange.org\/?author=2122"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"\u202fSupporting Those Impacted by the Searsmont Lumber Mill Explosion On May 15th, a devastating fire and explosion occurred at the Robbins Lumber mill in Searsmont, Maine, after&nbsp;crews&nbsp;responded to a fire in one of the mill\u2019s silos. The incident&nbsp;prompted a mass-casualty&nbsp;response involving multiple fire departments, first responders, emergency agencies, and hospitals across Maine. Firefighter Andrew Cross&hellip;","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1arC1-pSG","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mainestategrange.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99490","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mainestategrange.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mainestategrange.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mainestategrange.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2122"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mainestategrange.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=99490"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mainestategrange.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99490\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":99492,"href":"https:\/\/mainestategrange.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99490\/revisions\/99492"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mainestategrange.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=99490"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mainestategrange.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=99490"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mainestategrange.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=99490"},{"taxonomy":"post_folder","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mainestategrange.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fpost_folder&post=99490"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}