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Webster Five Foundation Wraps 2024 with Record $264,000 in Grants

Auburn, MA – Embracing the spirit of giving, the Webster Five Foundation is proud to announce a record-breaking year of charitable contributions. In 2024, the Foundation awarded $264,862 in 67 grants to support a range of local nonprofit programs and initiatives—surpassing its previous record by over $23,000.

The Foundation’s support addressed a variety of community needs, with 54 grants allocated to program development, including 23 that focused on improving or expanding access to youth programs.

Each quarter, the Foundation provides grants to nonprofit organizations or programs that support expanding or improving access to education, culture and the arts, social services, charitable activities and community development.

In the fourth and final grant cycle of 2024, the following 14 nonprofit organizations received $36,000 in total funding from the Webster Five Foundation:

  • Abby Kelley Foster House, Inc. — $2,500 to support the Food & Nutrition Services program, which ensures access to fresh, nutritious food through their weekly food pantry, regular nutrition and cooking classes and their healing herb garden.
  • Ascentria Care Alliance — $1,000 to support the organization’s Foster Care Outreach and Community Education campaign for the Unaccompanied Refugee Minors program, the Unaccompanied Children program, and the Intensive Foster Care program.
  • Boys & Girls Club of Worcester — $1,000 for the Club’s Academic Success core area, which helps youth develop the qualities needed to become responsible citizens and community leaders.
  • Edward Street — $2,500 to fund Worcester is Ready4K programming, a software program for parents that offers individualized learning strategies for their children.
  • Entrepreneurship for All (EforAll) — $2,500 to support its EparaTodos Spanish-language programming that focuses on helping Spanish-speaking entrepreneurs in the Greater Holyoke community start and grow their businesses or nonprofits.
  • Friends of St. Luke’s Inc. — $2,000 to help fund St. Luke’s Guesthouse, which provides short-term sheltering and programs that guide guests to achieve self-sufficiency. Their vision is to offer all people who are homeless in southern Worcester County a place to experience Christian hospitality and empowerment.
  • Open Door Arts, Inc. — $1,000 to support the Open Door Gallery at the Worcester Art Museum, which showcases the work of emerging and established artists with disabilities. Open Door Arts works annually with more than 2,000 students, teaching artists, educators and leaders of cultural organizations through innovative and inclusive programming.
  • Pawsitively 4 Pink — $1,000 and a match of up to $1,000 was also approved toward its Supporting Underserved Women Battling Breast Cancer programming. Pawsitively 4 Pink is committed to providing comprehensive financial and emotional support for low-income, underserved women in Massachusetts burdened by breast cancer.
  • Rachel’s Table — $1,500 for its Milk Program, which provides essential milk and dairy products to children and families in need. Rachel’s Table works with local farms, grocery stores, and restaurants to collect and deliver food that would otherwise go to waste, ensuring that no one in the Worcester, MA, community and surrounding areas goes hungry.
  • Thompson Ecumenical Empowerment Group — $5,000 to support TEEG’s Life Skills Empowerment Group programming to improve the lives of low-income individuals and families in the northeast corner of Connecticut. TEEG is a small grassroots non-profit community service agency that offers essential programs.
  • VNA Care Network — $1,000 toward its Mentoring the Next Generation of Home Health and Hospice Clinicians programming. VNA Care provides home health, palliative, and hospice care to individuals and families in Worcester and throughout Central Massachusetts.
  • Worcester Community Housing Resources (WCHR) — $7,500 for the organization’s general operations. WCHR’s mission is to create and preserve affordable housing opportunities for low and moderate-income households and to initiate and support neighborhood revitalization throughout Worcester County.
  • Worcester County Horticultural Society (New England Botanic Garden f.k.a Tower Hill Botanic Garden) — $5,000 for Project Bloom, which partners with nonprofit organizations in greater Worcester to deliver hands-on, nature-based experiences to youth aged 5 to 18. The New England Botanic Garden aims to engage the local community and create experiences with plants that inspire people and improve the world.
  • YOU, Inc., an affiliate of Seven Hills Foundation — $1,500 to support its Youth Academy, which is a fully grant-funded after-school college access and leadership program for promising low-income, first-generation high school students.

 

Since its inception in 1996, the Foundation has awarded $4,165,370 to 299 organizations. The next round of grant recipients will be awarded in the first quarter of 2025. To learn more about the Webster Five Foundation, click here.

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