CONCORD, NH — Twenty New Hampshire nonprofit organizations were given a total of $57,396 as recipients of The Merrimack Foundation’s annual grant-based contributions, the Merrimack County Savings Bank announced in a news release Wednesday.
The money was given to organizations ranging from the Boys & Girls Clubs of Central New Hampshire, which used the award to purchase a toddler-friendly climbing structure and sandbox for the Warner Early Learning Center, to Future In Sight, which used its money to provide tools to help low-income adults who are blind and visually impaired, officials said.
“It’s our mission to better the communities where we work and live, but we can’t do it alone,” Linda Lorden, President of The Merrimack, said in the news release. “We’re grateful for the Foundation’s support which allows us to support local organizations that help strengthen our communities.”
This year’s Merrimack Foundation grant recipients include the following nonprofits:
- Boys & Girls Clubs of Central New Hampshire of Concord: Awarded $2,000 to purchase a toddler-friendly climbing structure and sandbox for the Warner Early Learning Center.
- CATCH Neighborhood Housing of Concord: Awarded $4,100 to purchase and install bike racks and a basketball system for residents at Willow Crossing, an affordable housing community.
- Catholic Charities New Hampshire of Manchester: Awarded $3,000 to help 1,700 low-income, struggling families and individuals receive financial assistance through individualized casework services.
- Circle Program of Plymouth: Awarded $5,000 to support one newly enrolled 9- to 11-year-old for three weeks of residential summer camp and one 12- to 14-year-old for two weeks of residential summer camp (both from Merrimack County).
- Concord Hospital Trust: Awarded $2,500 to provide dental care for low-income patients at the Concord Hospital Family Health Center Dental Clinic.
- Crisis Center of Central New Hampshire of Concord: Awarded $2,500 for the expansion of therapeutic programming to survivors staying in their emergency shelter.
- Family Promise of Southern New Hampshire of Nashua: Awarded $2,000 for their Diversion Program to assist families who are temporarily displaced.
- Friends of New Hampshire Drug Courts of Concord: Awarded $3,000 to secure stable housing, transportation, dental or child care, and other critical services for 10 individuals.
- Front Door Agency of Nashua: Awarded $5,000 to provide homeless single mothers and their children affordable housing, case management, education and job training, and supportive services.
- Future In Sight of Concord: Awarded $2,000 to provide training, tools and support to low income adults who are blind and visually impaired.
- Granite YMCA of Concord: Awarded $4,000 to purchase new outdoor sensory equipment for youth in their Early Learning Child Care Center.
- Meals on Wheels of Hillsborough County of Merrimack: Awarded $2,000 to provide 1,645 meals and services to older and disabled adults.
- Merrimack Valley Day Care Service of Concord: Awarded $1,296 to purchase 16 tablets to facilitate their transition to a more efficient, paper-free management and parent communication tool.
- Overcomers Refugee Services of Concord: Awarded $3,000 to fund the cost of monthly meetings for refugee and immigrant women.
- The Pittsfield Youth Workshop of Pittsfield: Awarded $3,500 to assist in providing quality and effective year-round programming for free to youth in grades six through twelve from Pittsfield and surrounding communities.
- Step Up Parents of Portsmouth: Awarded $3,000 to offer financial assistance to at least 175 New Hampshire families.
- Tapply-Thompson Community Center of Bristol: Awarded $2,000 to support the Weekend Food Supplement Program to purchase healthy foods for students to bring home on weekends.
- Twin Rivers Food Pantry of Franklin: Awarded $2,000 to purchase of farm fresh milk for the Choice Pantry Program.
Waypoint of Manchester: Awarded $4,000 to support a drop-in center and services for youth experiencing homelessness or at risk in Merrimack County. - YMCA of Greater Nashua: Awarded $3,000 to support the Y’s Power Scholars Academy program to help up to 400 under-resourced Nashua youth who are behind grade level.
Founded in 1867, Merrimack County Savings Bank, also known as The Merrimack, serves people, businesses, non-profits, and municipalities in Central and Southern New Hampshire. The Foundation is funded by The Merrimack and established in 1997 specifically for grant-based contributions “to nonprofits that enrich and improve the quality of life for residents living in The Merrimack’s service areas,” the bank said.
Source: Patch