SOUTH YARMOUTH — The Harwich Fund of The Cape Cod Foundation recently awarded $21,500 in grants to nine nonprofit organizations serving the Harwich community. These grants (detailed below) will help provide new winter coats for hundreds of local children, weekend meals for 40 children and families, financial stability programs for up to 475 residents, and outreach and respite care for up to 30 Alzheimer’s patients and care givers in need, among other things.
Brian Scheld, Chair of The Harwich Fund Advisory Committee said, “Through generous donations from a growing network of individual donors, we have now awarded over $76,000 in grants to help strengthen the critical framework that supports the Harwich community since the fund was established.” Scheld noted, however, that the needs in Harwich exceed what the Fund has been able to do with its current resources. “While our Harwich Helping Harwich strategy has made an impact in our community, the grant requests we receive from the nonprofit sector serving Harwich residents are more than twice the funds we have available for grantmaking. That’s why future fundraising is critical,” he said.
This year’s grant recipients are:
Alzheimer’s Family Support Center, $2,000
For No-Cost In-Person Caregiver Support Group and Activity Group for People living with Alzheimer’s and Dementia-Related Disorders
An estimated 300 Harwich residents are living with a diagnosable dementia disease; another 600 residents are living with Mild Cognitive Impairment. The Alzheimer’s Family Support Center serves that population by offering a twice-monthly caregiver support group and companion activity group at the Harwich Community Center. These groups offer social interaction and support for those living with memory conditions, as well as respite and support for caregivers. The grant will pay the cost of these programs for 2025, serving 20 to 30 Harwich residents.
Behavioral Health Innovators, $2,500
For Positive Alternatives for Student Support (PASS) In Harwich
This grant continues The Harwich Fund’s support of the PASS program for students in the Monomoy School District. PASS serves vulnerable students living with substance use disorder and related mental health conditions by offering them the option of an alternative before a school suspension goes into effect. BHI launched PASS in 2022, with support from a grant from The Harwich Fund. Since launching, 15 Monomoy and 33 Cape Cod Regional Technical High School students in Harwich have attended and successfully completed the PASS program. BHI reports that every student who participated in PASS last year found the program to be a positive experience. BHI anticipates serving 20 Harwich resident students in 2024-25. The Harwich Fund’s grant this year will help to support the high school program and expansion of the program to Monomoy Middle School students.
Cape Kid Meals, $2,500
For the Childhood Hunger Relief Program in Harwich
The primary objective of Cape Kid Meals is to reduce the number of hungry children over the weekends and during vacation weeks, so they can return to school ready to learn. Key programs include a weekend backpack supplied with food for students from age 2 through 6th grade, as well as an enhanced program for high school students, a school snack program, a school pantry program, and an expanding summer backpack program. Approximately 40 Harwich children and their families will benefit from Cape Kid Meals’ Childhood Hunger Relief Program every week of the 2024-25 school year. The Harwich Elementary school nurse recently provided a testimonial for the program: “So many of our families depend on these backpack meals. I have one child who comes in when he sees the bags have been delivered and asks if he can have his ‘right now’.”
Grateful Mug Cafe, $1,000
For the Grateful Mug Café
Grateful Mug Café is a new nonprofit organization founded by two teachers from the Monomoy School District, with initial support from the Harwich Chamber of Commerce Charitable Foundation. Its mission is to open and operate a cafe within Harwich to provide employment opportunities for students and alumni of the school district with intellectual, developmental, and physical disabilities. The plan is to employ 5-10 adults and 10 interns from Monomoy to support daily café operations. A standing collaboration with CORD (Cape Organization for the Rights of the Disabled) will help provide
vocational training and follow up.
Harwich Children’s Fund, $5,000
Winter Outerwear Drive
This grant continues The Harwich Fund’s support of the Harwich Children’s Fund’s Winter Outerwear Drive, which provides new winter coats, boots, mittens, and hats to Harwich youth ages 1-18 in need during the holiday season. In past years, the Fund distributed over 240 pieces of outerwear to Harwich youth. The Children’s Fund expects to exceed that amount this year.
Harwich Conservation Trust, $2,000
For the Robert F. Smith Cold Brook Preserve Wheelchair Accessible Trailhead and Public Access
The wheelchair accessible trailhead and public access project will enable people of all physical abilities to access the preserve property. By establishing public access, including an accessible trailhead connecting to the half mile All Person’s Trail, the Trust is ensuring access to the scenic site and environmental education for all. The Harwich Fund’s grant will be the final piece of the funding for completion of the public access project. The Harwich Conservation Trust estimates that the project will be used by more than 10,000 people annually.
Harwich Jr. Theater/Cape Cod Theater Company, $2,000
For “From Page to Stage: An Early Reader Theater Experience”
This grant will help fund a town-read of a well-known children’s book and production of a play based on the book. The theatre company will partner with Brooks Free Library and other local libraries, bookstores, and public schools to offer the town read. It will then partner with Harwich Elementary schools to bring cast members and teaching artists from the theatre into the classroom to introduce students to the process of putting on a production and engage them in that process by teaching them one of the songs from the show. The project will culminate with welcoming both the general public and school-group audiences to the play, which will be geared towards young audiences and their educators and caregivers. The project will serve approximately 254 Harwich elementary school students through classroom visits and school field trips to the theatre and will reach approximately 100 young readers and their caregivers through the town-read activities. Public performances of the play are anticipated to serve upwards of 1200 patrons from Harwich and beyond. The Harwich Fund’s grant will subsidize the fee for hiring a musical director and the musicians for the play.
Homeless Prevention Council, $2,500
For Supporting Housing and Financial Stability for Harwich Residents through Personalized Case Management
This grant will continue The Harwich Fund’s support of the Case Management Program, which provides personalized and long-term support for Harwich individuals and families, empowering them to attain financial stability, stay in their homes, or find stable and affordable housing. The program assists Harwich residents with locating safe, affordable, year-round housing or staying in current housing, accessing programs that will allow them to stretch their income and cover their housing costs, identifying and addressing underlying issues that are impeding their success in attaining sustained financial self-sufficiency, and breaking the cycle of repeated financial and housing crises. Over the next year, the Homeless Prevention Council expects to help 475 Harwich residents attain financial stability, stay in their homes, or find stable, affordable housing.
Lower Cape Outreach Council, $2,000
For providing winter coats to Harwich youth and seniors in need this winter season
With this grant, LCOC will purchase 80 coats from partners at Operation Warm, a national nonprofit. Recipients will be current clients of LCOC’s Food Pantry and financial assistance programs. Last year, LCOC provided 65 coats to Harwich residents under this program; LCOC expects that demand for the coats will increase to 80 coats this year.
To donate to The Harwich Fund, visit harwichfund.org or send a check payable to The Harwich Fund to: The Cape Cod Foundation; 261 Whites Path, Unit 2; South Yarmouth, MA, 02660
