CAMDEN — United Midcoast Charities (UMC) has announced its 2019 grant recipients. With this year’s awards, UMC’s total giving for the last three years alone tops $1.5 million to nonprofit organizations in Knox and Waldo counties.

UMC held its annual Community Celebration at the Samoset Resort on September 19, bringing community and nonprofit leaders together for an awards ceremony followed by dancing to music provided by The Right Track.

Highlights of the event included the premier of a video highlighting the work of UMC grantees and the announcement of the second annual "Unsung Hero Award."

Linford Young, of Brooks, a youth mentor and volunteer at the Game Loft, in Belfast, received this year’s award. UMC board members, grant recipients, the Game Loft Youth Board, and others offered Young their hearty congratulations for his example as an outstanding youth role model in his community, according to UMC, in a news release. The Unsung Hero award is a cooperative effort of Courier Publications and United Midcoast Charities’ Nonprofit Advisory Council.

United Midcoast Charities awarded its 2019 grants to agencies that work to create impact in UMC’s four focus areas: food, housing, health and safety, and economic security. A complete list of 2019 grant recipients in each focus area is available at UnitedMidcoastCharities.org.

Support from the following sponsors made this celebration possible: Bangor Savings Bank, Grasshopper Shop, of Rockland, McLean Borden Cottage, Rockport Steel, Front Street Shipyard, the Event Host Committee and media sponsor Village Soup/Courier Publications.

United Midcoast Charities, founded in 1942, is a 501c3 nonprofit. UMC’s mission is to energize Midcoast Maine nonprofit agencies through finance and guidance, supporting a network of resources stronger than any single organization.

Through a yearly grant application and review process, UMC funds agencies working in Knox and Waldo counties in the areas of food, housing, health and safety and economic security.