Coverage of Washington County is made possible by a grant from the Eaton Foundation.
Ten days before last Christmas, Rhonda French of Jonesport had a Dickensesque problem.
Each year, French runs an organization that provides Christmas gifts for needy children in Washington County called “Let’s All Have a Merrier Christmas.” Normally, she would have her list of children in hand and budgeted by December 1, but last year she received a new list of needy kids from two local school officials and two daycare providers on December 15. She didn’t have the funds to cover the extra families.
“We have never had to turn anyone away, but this many names at such a short notice seems impossible at this point,” she wrote in an e-mail at the time.
But instead of despairing, French sent the e-mail asking for help to a listserv of influential women in Washington County called Mighty Women. Within minutes, she received two responses with pledged donations. As the day rolled on, the donations came from all over Washington County and from as far away as Hawaii. By the end of the day, French had all the donations she would need to provide a toy and warm clothing for each child on the list.
“This fabulous group of women pulled together and raised approximately $3,000,” French said in an e-mail interview for this story.
Mighty Women is an e-mail list of some one hundred female (and male) entrepreneurs and social service leaders in Washington County. Susan Corbett, the group’s primary instigator and CEO of Axiom Technologies, said an e-mail that goes out to those 100 people ends up in the inbox of many more.
“Those 100 people each have Rolodexes that are very huge,” she said.
Judy East, executive director of the Washington County Council of Governments, said the strength of being a part of Mighty Women is knowing that the women on the list are engaged in making Washington County a great place to live.
“You have a sense that you’re part of a group, that they’re not hitting the delete key. They’re engaged and they’re going to show up,” East said.
Corbett began thinking of the need for such a group while working with Janet Toth, who was then the business development specialist for the Eastern Maine Development Corporation in 2006. Corbett was looking for financing for her internet company and Toth began to suggest businesswomen for networking in Washington County. It was Toth’s job to help clients create social networks, but she said Corbett took that concept and ran with it.
“Susan was further ahead than most people,” said Toth, who is now community development coordinator for the city of Ellsworth.
In 2006, Corbett met with a small group of female entrepreneurs she connected with through Toth. At that meeting, Corbett walked into the room, looked at the others and joked, “Now, isn’t this a group of mighty women?” The name stuck.
With a bit more organization, she and others were able to round up some 50 women at a Washington County career center later that year. Many of them had graduated from the county’s Leadership Training program, but didn’t know each other. For the next two years, they met monthly to introduce themselves. A group of core members still meets regularly at Helen’s Restaurant in Machias.
But it’s the traffic across the Web that has shortened the distance for many in Washington County. The women trade e-mails back and forth about important topics from event announcements to homes for puppies, with nary a forwarded joke.
Also, the group has been folded into the social capital arm of Washington County: One Community, a nonprofit funded by the Healthy Maine Partnership. There, Mighty Women members have been studying such topics as the health disparity between the wealthy and the poor in the county and the need for a homeless shelter.
While the group includes some men on the listserv, there’s a reason why it’s focused on women, say its members. East said the economy in Washington County encourages everyone to be entrepreneurs out of necessity, a climate that creates many female innovators in the county.
“There’s some pretty cool, strong, motivated get-er-done women in this county,” East said.
Toth said groups like Mighty Women are vital for the local economy because they build capacity. Social service groups can network with each other to augment their offerings and to avoid duplication of services. The listserv also provides businesses with an opportunity to cooperate, something which is vital in the large and sparsely-populated county. Mighty Women is a case where Washington County has social connections that are the envy of more densely-populated communities, said Toth.
“I’d love to get one here in Hancock County,” she said.
Craig Idlebrook is a freelance writer based in Ellsworth.