STATE OF MAINE
_____
IN THE YEAR OF OUR LORD
TWO THOUSAND TWENTY-FOUR
_____
JOINT RESOLUTION RECOGNIZING FEBRUARY 2024 AS 211
MAINE MONTH
WHEREAS, 211 Maine is a Maine-based health and human services and emergency
preparedness and response helpline that provides Maine people free and confidential referrals
to needed resources; and
WHEREAS, 211 Maine provides around-the-clock service statewide, offering efficient
and effective responses to questions arising from the growing complexities in health, financial
and human services and the needs of Maine people from people employed in Maine, including
interpreters for multilanguage users; and
WHEREAS, since 2006, 211 Maine call specialists have assisted with requests for
information regarding topics ranging from substance use and recovery services to housing
support and food resources, and in 2023 fielded over 77,000 calls, text messages and e-mails
from people looking for help for themselves or someone they know; and
WHEREAS, 211 Maine provides emergency operations support during times of natural
and other disasters, including assisting the Department of Defense, Veterans and Emergency
Management, Maine Emergency Management Agency by fielding calls from those affected by
windstorms and floods, collecting data regarding incidence severity and locations of need and
directing people to local warming shelters and cooling centers; and
WHEREAS, during this past year, 211 Maine provided over 11,000 referrals for heating
and utility assistance services, helping individuals find appropriate assistance programs, which
may have prevented their contacting the wrong agency for heating assistance, prevented utility
shut-offs and saved people from spending winter nights without fuel; and
WHEREAS, 211 Maine handles a number of specialized services and partnerships,
including serving as the centralized access point for the Help Me Grow Maine program, which
helps families with children from birth to 8 years of age to access needed services, providing
the opiate helpline and the gambling helpline and serving as a resource for finding information
about needs such as tax preparation, mental health services and browntail moth caterpillar
prevention, mitigation and treatment; and
WHEREAS, 211 Maine provides a powerful example of how the government and
nonprofit and private sectors can work together to improve the quality of life of the people of
Maine; now, therefore, be it
RESOLVED: That We, the Members of the One Hundred and Thirty-first Legislature now
assembled in the Second Regular Session, on behalf of the people we represent, take this
opportunity to recognize February 2024 as 211 Maine Month.
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