Waltham-based Neighbors Who Care awarded Cummings Foundation $100K for 100 grant

Neighbors Who Care (Waltham, MA) is one of 100 local nonprofits to receive grants of $100,000 each through the Cummings Foundation $100K for 100 program. The Waltham-based non-profit organization was chosen from a total of 549 applicants during a competitive review process.

This year's grant funds will help strengthen and support the continued growth of Neighbors Who Care, which pairs a volunteer with an elder who often has outlived family, friends and neighbors and has become isolated. The volunteer companion is serves as a friend-- “doing what friends do” --be it visiting, shopping, going for coffee or any activities and time agreed upon by the “two friends.”

Neighbors Who Care offers services at no charge as most clients cannot afford many of the services available to elders for a charge. The Cummings Foundation is a valued partner of Neighbors Who Care in furthering and enhancing the care of elders within the greater Waltham communities.

The $100K for 100 program supports nonprofits that are not only based in but also primarily serve Middlesex, Essex, and Suffolk counties. This year, the program is benefitting 35 different cities and towns within the Commonwealth.

Through this place-based initiative, the Cummings Foundation aims to give back in the area where it owns commercial buildings, all of which are managed, at no cost to the Foundation, by its affiliate Cummings Properties. Founded in 1970 by Bill Cummings, the Woburn-based commercial real estate firm leases and manages more than 10 million square feet of space, the majority of which exclusively benefits the Foundation.
"Non-profit organizations like Neighbors Who Care are vital to the local communities where our colleagues and clients live and work," said Joel Swets, the Cummings Foundation's executive director. "We are delighted to invest in their efforts."

This year's diverse group of grant recipients represents a wide variety of causes, including homelessness prevention and affordable housing, education, violence prevention, and food insecurity. Most of the grants will be paid over two to five years. The complete list of the 100 grant winners is available at www.CummingsFoundation.org.

The Woburn-based Cummings Foundation, Inc. was established in 1986 by Joyce and Bill Cummings of Winchester. With assets exceeding $1.4 billion, it is one of the largest foundations in New England. The Foundation directly operates its own charitable subsidiaries, including two New Horizons retirement communities, in Marlborough and Woburn. Its largest single commitment to date was $50 million to the Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine at Tufts University. Additional information is available at www.CummingsFoundation.org