Ben's Bells in Bethel Receives Grant from Harvard Pilgrim Health

BETHEL, CT — Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Foundation has announced that Ben's Bells, Inc. in Bethel was awarded $500 from the Foundation’s Community Spirit 9/11 Mini-Grant program. Deanna Collins, an employee of Harvard Pilgrim Health Care, nominated the organization for the award. Funds will be used to provide programming focused on developing social, emotional and learning skills in schools.

To commemorate those Harvard Pilgrim members who lost their lives on September 11, 2001, Harvard Pilgrim and the Foundation created the Community Spirit 9/11 Mini-Grant program. This program allows each Harvard Pilgrim employee to award a $500 grant, completely funded by the Foundation, to the local charity of his or her choice each calendar year. Since this community grants program began in 2002, Harvard Pilgrim employees have directed more than $6.5 million to thousands of organizations throughout Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, and New Hampshire.

"We are so fortunate to have generous and dedicated employees who enrich our company and the communities in which we all live and work," said Karen Voci, President of the Harvard Pilgrim
Foundation. "The Mini-Grant program is a wonderful way to support our employees as Philanthropists and to help them make an impact in their own cities and towns."

In 2018, 96 percent of Harvard Pilgrim employees participated in at least one form of service or giving through volunteering, the Mini-Grants program, or Harvard Pilgrim’s annual Employee Fundraising Campaign.