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Maide for You in Gorham

By Janice Pompeo

GORHAM – Donna Foster and her husband, Mike, own and run Maide For You cleaning service located at 220 Narragansett Street in Gorham.

They have steadily expanded and grown their business year after year, providing services in Cumberland and York counties.

Maide For You specializes in both residential and commercial properties, offering individually-tailored services.

The COVID-19 pandemic created challenges, as with most businesses. Some staff members left because they felt it was too dangerous and would rather not be out in public. Several have since returned, but others have not.

Maide for You also lost some clients that didn’t want outside workers in their homes due to worries about the spread of COVID-19, but the majority of those have since returned.

Donna and Michael Foster own Maide For You, a cleaning service based in Gorham that cleans residential and commercial properties, and provides cleaning of buildings after construction. About 40 people work for the company. (Photo courtesy of Janice Pompeo)

The business successfully survived the pandemic due to their commercial line of business that includes cleaning of buildings after construction. “It’s a roller coaster ride, we try to keep our sense of humor!” Donna said.

The cleaning staff wear masks and gloves while working, and Maide for You coordinates with clients who travel to limit exposure.

“We find it very important to put health first,” Donna said. “We form close bonds with clients and we try to have it reflect in our attitudes, cleaning and our interactions.”.

The hardest part of the business for the Fosters is finding “balance”. They have amazing employees and want to make sure they are getting the hours and pay they need to support their families.

This line of work can lead to tricky hours, however. Summers are busier, while holidays and snow days lead to adjustments in cleaning schedules.

Donna grew up in Sanford on what she refers to as the “French side of town” with her two brothers Mike and John. She said that she met her now husband Michael, in a high school English class and soon after started dating.

These high school sweethearts married in 1989 and went off to live in Germany as Mike had enlisted in the U.S. Army SatCom (satellite communications). Donna calls him “pretty much a genius!”

The couple welcomed their first two babies in Germany, in a hospital where no-one spoke English. “That was a little scary,” Donna joked.

After leaving Germany. their next move was to Fort Monmouth in NJ, where they welcomed two more little ones. By this time Mike’s term with the army was over and he decided not to re-enlist.

The Fosters returned to Maine where it all began. They moved to Gorham and had yet one more baby together. (in case you lost count… Mike and Donna have five children). Donna stayed home with the children until the youngest was 5 and started school.

Once all five were in school, Donna came up with the business Maide For You. Her experience and all sorts of cleaning tips from her time on the army bases gave her several steps in the right direction.

When residents leave a “base” house while in the army, they have to leave it PERFECTLY clean. To this day, Donna holds herself and her employees to this standard.

The business began to grow through referrals and off it went! Starting with just herself in 2002, she now employs around 40 people.

She went from hauling her vacuum around in her family minivan to owning a fleet of company cars for the day-shift workers.

The Fosters have great aspirations for Maide For You. Donna said “I want to take over the world!”. She said she has great people supporting the business, and wonderful office staff and cleaning staff.

“We will continue to grow!” she said.

Maide For You’s mission statement reads, “To nurture a working environment that supports and encourages employees to be the best version of themselves which enables them to do work they can be proud of.”

For more information or to contact Maide For You, call 653-1837 or visit  maideforyou.com

Janice Pompeo is part of the Johnandjanice real estate team, and can be reached at johnandjanice@beangroup.com

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