Money will support Health Care for the Homeless Program
Greater Lawrence Family Health Center (GLFHC) has been awarded a $50,000 grant from the Cummings Foundation. The money will help support the center’s Mobile Health Unit (MHU), which provides health care to the homeless throughout the Merrimack Valley.
Now in its 40th year, GLFHC provides health care to more than 62,000 patients annually, and has locations and pharmacies in Lawrence and Methuen. A Haverhill location and pharmacy are scheduled to open this summer.
GLFHC is also one of 130 local nonprofits eligible to receive additional grant money through the Cummings Foundation’s $20 Million Grant Program. The organization was chosen from a total of 738 applicants during a competitive review process.
“Greater Lawrence Family Health Center is grateful for the continued support we are receiving from the Cummings Foundation,” said John M. Silva, President & CEO of GLFHC. “This funding will allow us to continue providing health care to our region’s most vulnerable – our homeless residents – and at the same time focus on expanding those services beyond the 1,000-plus patients we serve with our Mobile Health Unit. We are also fortunate and grateful to have the opportunity to participate in the next phase of the $20 Million Grant Program, and the potential for additional, long term funding of this much needed service to our community and the growing number of homeless patients we will serve.”
Greater Lawrence Family Health Center’s Mobile Health Unit treats homeless patients in the communities in which they live, delivering primary care and other specialized care to them that they might not otherwise be able to receive. The Cummings Foundation has been a generous supporter of the MHU and past grants awarded total $100,000.
The Cummings $20 Million Grant Program supports Massachusetts nonprofits that are based in and primarily serve Middlesex, Essex, and Suffolk counties. Through this place-based initiative, 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 10 million square feet of debt-free space, the majority of which exclusively benefits the Foundation.
“We have been impressed, but not surprised, by the myriad ways in which these 130 grant winners are serving their communities, despite the challenges presented by COVID-19,” said Joel Swets, Cummings Foundation’s executive director. “Their ability to adapt and work with their constituents in new and meaningful ways has an enormous impact in the communities where our colleagues and leasing clients live and work.”
Cummings Foundation has now awarded more than $280 million to greater Boston nonprofits.
Social distancing requirements will prevent Foundation and grant winner representatives from convening for a reception at TradeCenter 128 in Woburn, as planned, to celebrate the $20 million infusion into greater Boston’s nonprofit sector. Instead, Cummings Foundation expects hundreds of individuals to gather virtually for a modified celebration in mid-June.
The Cummings $20 Million Grant Program resulted from a merger of the Foundation’s two flagship grant programs, $100K for 100 and Sustaining Grants.
The Foundation and its volunteers first identified 130 organizations to receive grants of at least $100,000 each. Among the winners are first-time recipients as well as nonprofits that have previously received Cummings Foundation grants. A limited number of this latter group of repeat recipients will be invited to make in-person presentations in the fall, when public health related circumstances allow, proposing that their grants be elevated to long-term awards. Thirty such requests will be granted in the form of 10-year awards ranging from $200,000 to $500,000 each.
This year’s diverse group of grant recipients represents a wide variety of causes, including homelessness prevention, affordable housing, education, violence prevention, and food insecurity. The nonprofits are spread across 40 different cities and towns, and most will receive their grants over two to five years.
The complete list of 130 grant winners is available at www.CummingsFoundation.org.
A great deal more information about Cummings Foundation is detailed in Bill Cummings’ self-written business book, “Starting Small and Making It Big: Hands-On Lessons in Entrepreneurship and Philanthropy.” The brand-new, and significantly updated, 6th edition is available on Amazon or cummings.com/book.
About GLFHC: The mission of Greater Lawrence Family Health Center is to improve and maintain the health of individuals and families in the Merrimack Valley by providing a network of high quality, comprehensive health care services and by training health care professionals to respond to the needs of a culturally diverse population. More than 62,000 patients depend on GLFHC for their primary health care needs at locations in Lawrence and Methuen. For more information, visit https://glfhc.org.
About Cummings Foundation: Woburn-based Cummings Foundation, Inc. was established in 1986 by Joyce and Bill Cummings. The Foundation directly operates its own charitable subsidiaries, including New Horizons retirement communities in Marlborough and Woburn, and Veterinary School at Tufts, LLC in North Grafton. Additional information is available at www.CummingsFoundation.org.
