LEWISTON, Maine (NewsNation) — Survivors and families of victims from Maine’s deadliest mass shooting say they were promised 100% of donations would go to them, but discovered a year later that nearly $2 million was instead distributed to 29 nonprofits, including organizations serving immigrant communities and one facing fraud allegations.

After questions were first raised by local press, NewsNation dug into the bait-and-switch that has left the community outraged.

The Maine Community Foundation established the Lewiston-Auburn Area Response Fund after an October 2023 shooting at a bowling alley left 18 people dead and 13 wounded. Victims and family members say they were told repeatedly that all donations would go directly to survivors and families.

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“They told us that night that 100 percent of the funds would go to the victims,” said Jennifer Zanca, a nurse who was shot twice during the attack and applied pressure to her own wound to avoid bleeding out. “And then I received the email, too, to say that.”

An email from the Maine Community Foundation stated the fund was created “to help ensure survivors and victims know that 100% of all donations go to the victims/survivors of this tragic event.”

But Amy Sussman, whose nephew Max Hathaway was killed in the shooting, investigated the fund’s distribution a year later and found $1.9 million went to nonprofits rather than victims.

“To learn that 29 nonprofits receive money from that fund, I didn’t understand that,” Sussman said.

Hathaway, 35, was a married father of two with a third child on the way when he was killed. His wife was seven and a half months pregnant at the time.

“He was my sister’s only son, a middle child. He had an older sister and a younger sister. He was the man of the family since he was 14 years old,” Sussman said. “On that day, he had just received his college diploma in the mail. And he and his wife and 19-month-old daughter went out to Schmengie’s to have dinner to celebrate receiving that diploma.”

29 nonprofits received funds; nine serve only immigrant communities

Nine of the 29 organizations that received funding serve only immigrant communities, including Empowered Immigrant Women Unite, Generation Noor, New Mainers Public Health Initiative, the Somali Bantu Community Association and Gateway Community Services.

NewsNation has confirmed that seven of those nine are connected to Somali-American linked nonprofits.

Gateway Community Services, which received $65,000 from the fund, has been accused of misusing taxpayer funds and was recently visited by Homeland Security investigators following NewsNation reporting. The organization’s executive director, Nathan Davis, served on the fund’s steering committee.

After NewsNation published this story, the Maine Community Foundation pointed out that Gateway is two separate entities.

Gateway Community Services, which is an LLC that is being investigated, has never received funds from the Maine Community Foundation. Gateway Community Services Maine, the nonprofit, has received funds.

But our reporting shows that the nonprofit is an arm of the LLC, housed in the same building, and started by Somali-American Abdullahi Ali, who has been designated as a person of interest by the House Oversight Committee, in a letter to Secretary Scott Bessent. Amid the recent scrutiny, Ali has just listed his house for sale. 

Victims struggle with medical bills

Zanca, who received $32,000 from the fund, said she faced a $93,000 hospital bill she couldn’t cover while undergoing multiple surgeries.

“It didn’t really hit me and really upset me until I was in a position with a $93,000 hospital bill that I couldn’t cover,” she said.

When told Gateway Community Services received more money than she did, Zanca said: “It does kind of revictimize, you know, where it just doesn’t feel fair, doesn’t feel right.”

“They raised money for nonprofits on the backs of 18 people who were murdered, 13 people who were shot, and 136 people who escaped their attempted murder. They used that to raise money for nonprofits,” Sussman said.

Former Gov. LePage demands audit, return of nonprofit distributions

The Maine Community Foundation declined an interview request but said in a statement that it was clear from the outset there were two different funds, and that “communication to the recipients of the Victims and Families Fund regarding contributions referred to that fund only.”

Former Maine Gov. Paul LePage is demanding a complete audit and that money distributed to nonprofits be returned to victims.

“A little over $2 million went to nonprofits and a lot of them are local nonprofits. Somali community in particular got a whole lot of money and I don’t know why,” LePage said. “I’m furious. I’m steaming. Nobody knew. Nobody knew that the funds were going to be spread to nonprofits.”

LePage drew a comparison to fraud scandals in Minnesota involving Somali-linked organizations that have resulted in billions in losses.

“The major difference is in Minnesota, they’re stealing from the taxpayers,” LePage said. “In Maine, they’re stealing from the taxpayers and victims of a massacre that happened two years ago, which I find to be just absolutely horrific. And we have an administration that is just not saying a thing about it.”

Victims say donors believed they were helping shooting survivors, not general community organizations.

“People got on that website because they were responding to people being shot, not because they were responding to a community that has nonprofits with needs,” Sussman said.

“There’s a lot of people in the broader community that are outraged because they’re like, no, we sent our money to the victims. Where did it go?” Zanca said.

The Maine Community Foundation says the Attorney General of Maine investigated the collection and distribution of funds and cleared the process of any wrongdoing.

Sussman says she contacted the Maine Attorney General’s office and asked them to investigate. They did and told Sussman there was “no legal violation under Maine nonprofit or charities law.”

But Sussman told NewsNation, “They honored the intent of the donors by giving the money donated for non-profits to the non-profits. The list of non-profits was not provided at the time of donation, which is significant. And it apparently is not illegal to mislead the survivors and family members.”

Sussman is working with VictimsFirst.Org to advocate for legislation to protect survivors and family members from nonprofits profiting from a shooting. 

The shooting, which occurred Oct. 25, 2023, claimed victims ranging in age from 14 to 76 and stands as the deadliest mass shooting in Maine’s history.