On Thursday, May 7, Maine’s Total Coverage is hosting the second annual Spring into Hope: Maine Fashion Show at Dunegrass Country Club in Old Orchard Beach, partnering with Sweetser. All proceeds from the event will benefit mental health support in Maine and it will again be emceed by WMTW anchors Meghan Torjussen and Jon Chrisos.The inaugural event in 2025 was a great success.Justin Chenette, spokesperson for Sweetser, spoke with Maine’s Total Coverage on Friday about this year’s event that will support mental health treatment for children and families in Maine.This year’s event will include a runway show with more than 50 models, food and drinks, music by DJ Brandon Aull, raffle and photo booth.All ticket sales and evening raffle proceeds will support Sweetser’s capital campaign to build Maine’s first youth Psychiatric Residential Treatment Facility (PRTF).Right now, Chenette said more than 70 of Maine’s most at-risk youth are being sent as far away as Florida and Oklahoma for expensive out-of-state mental health treatment and care, away from their natural supports.Sweetser is looking to renovate an 8,000-square-foot building on its Saco campus into a secure, 16-bed trauma-informed environment.The total project cost is projected at $7.9 million. The state provided an initial $2 million towards the project and the governor’s recent supplemental budget includes an additional $3.4 million. That leaves a $2.5 million gap that Sweetser still needs to raise.”This life-changing project requires urgent community support. We are building a home for hope but we can’t do it alone. This project won’t happen with the support of the community,” said Chenette. “This project represents a multi-generational investment in preventing children from languishing in emergency rooms and in reuniting families separated by thousands of miles. We have an urgent need to close this funding gap to open the facility by late 2026 or early 2027.”You can buy tickets to the Spring Into Hope: Maine Fashion Show online. Both general admission and VIP tickets are available. If you can’t make it to the fashion show, but would still like to provide financial support to the new facility, you can go to Sweetser.org/BuildHope.
On Thursday, May 7, Maine’s Total Coverage is hosting the second annual Spring into Hope: Maine Fashion Show at Dunegrass Country Club in Old Orchard Beach, partnering with Sweetser. All proceeds from the event will benefit mental health support in Maine and it will again be emceed by WMTW anchors Meghan Torjussen and Jon Chrisos.
The inaugural event in 2025 was a great success.
Justin Chenette, spokesperson for Sweetser, spoke with Maine’s Total Coverage on Friday about this year’s event that will support mental health treatment for children and families in Maine.
This year’s event will include a runway show with more than 50 models, food and drinks, music by DJ Brandon Aull, raffle and photo booth.
All ticket sales and evening raffle proceeds will support Sweetser’s capital campaign to build Maine’s first youth Psychiatric Residential Treatment Facility (PRTF).
Right now, Chenette said more than 70 of Maine’s most at-risk youth are being sent as far away as Florida and Oklahoma for expensive out-of-state mental health treatment and care, away from their natural supports.
Sweetser is looking to renovate an 8,000-square-foot building on its Saco campus into a secure, 16-bed trauma-informed environment.
The total project cost is projected at $7.9 million. The state provided an initial $2 million towards the project and the governor’s recent supplemental budget includes an additional $3.4 million. That leaves a $2.5 million gap that Sweetser still needs to raise.
“This life-changing project requires urgent community support. We are building a home for hope but we can’t do it alone. This project won’t happen with the support of the community,” said Chenette. “This project represents a multi-generational investment in preventing children from languishing in emergency rooms and in reuniting families separated by thousands of miles. We have an urgent need to close this funding gap to open the facility by late 2026 or early 2027.”
You can buy tickets to the Spring Into Hope: Maine Fashion Show online. Both general admission and VIP tickets are available.
If you can’t make it to the fashion show, but would still like to provide financial support to the new facility, you can go to Sweetser.org/BuildHope.