NOOB: Do I seek a sponsor before applying as a new maintainer?

[DoyenGuy <doyenguy@gmail.com>]

After looking into the whole "new maintainer" process and application
and documentation and tomes of webpages on the Debian website, I
encountered a question.  I sent an email three days ago to what I
thought was the most logical address, the Debian "Front Desk", and
even though I'm not "involved" right now I thought I'd hear from them
reasonably promptly, but not as of yet have I gotten anything back.

What follows is what I sent to the 'front desk', and what I know ask
of the mentors list...

So I turn to the Debian mentors list, where I hopefully will find an
answer and direction.

I have written a program (and continue to improve) called ProShield
(proshield.sf.net) that I would like to get put into the official
debian apt repositories.  This involves a "new maintainer" application
process, as well as a lot of reading and other stuff.

I have subscribed to the debian-devel and debian-mentor mailing lists,
and the documentation on the website confuses me a little.  Do I
express who I am, what my program is, and my desire to find a sponsor
for my package on the debian-mentor list before I apply to be a
maintainer?

What do I do?

Tom