Harwich Fund Awards $21,500 To Local Nonprofits

HARWICH – Taking care of children was a top priority of the Harwich Fund awards this year. 

The charitable organization associated with The Cape Cod Foundation announced it will award $21,500 to local nonprofit organizations, most of which work with children and young people.

The grants will help provide new winter coats for hundreds of local children, weekend meals for 40 children and families, assistance with financial stability programs serving 475 residents, and outreach and respite care for up to 30 Alzheimer’s patients and caregivers in need. 

 “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,” Brian Scheld, chair of the fund’s advisory committee, said in a press release.

However, Scheld noted 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,” Scheld said. 

 The organization has been a major supporter of the Harwich Children’s Fund’s winter outerwear drive, this year providing a $5,000 grant for new winter coats, boots, mittens and hats for Harwich youth ages 1 through 18 during the holiday season. 

 Cape Kids Meals will receive $2,500 for the Childhood Hunger Relief Program. The primary objective of the Cape Kids 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.

 The Behavioral Health Innovators program will also receive $2,500 to support the PASS program (Positive Alternatives for Student Support) for students in the Monomoy Regional School District. The program serves vulnerable students living with substance use disorder and related mental health conditions by offering the option of an alternative before a school suspension goes into effect.

 The Alzheimer’s Family Support Center will receive $2,000. It is estimated 300 Harwich residents are living with a diagnosable dementia disease and another 600 residents are living with mild cognitive impairment. The center serves that population by offering a twice-monthly caregiver support group and companion activity group at the community center.

The Homeless Prevention Council will also receive $2,500. The grant will continue the Harwich Fund’s support of HPC’s case management program, which provides personalized and longterm support for local individuals and families, empowering them to attain financial stability, stay in their homes, or fund stable and affordable housing.

Harwich Junior Theatre/Cape Cod Theater Company will receive $2,000 for its “Front Page to Stage: An Early Reader Theater Experience” program. The contribution will help fund a town-wide read of a well-known children’s book and production of a play based on the book. 

The theater company will partner with Brooks Free Library and other local libraries, bookstores and the public schools to offer the town-wide read. It will then partner with Harwich Elementary School to bring cast members and teaching artists from the theater into the classroom to introduce students to the process of putting on a production and engage them in the process by teaching one of the songs from the show.

The Harwich Conservation Trust will receive a $2,000 grant to assist with the wheelchair access trail under construction at the Robert F. Smith Cold Brook Preserve. The wheelchair accessible trailhead and public access project will enable people of all physical abilities to access the preserve.

 The Grateful Mug Cafe (formerly known as the Special Friends Cafe) is a new non-profit organization with a mission to open and operate a cafe within the town to provide employment opportunities for students and school district alumni with intellectual, developmental and physical disabilities. The plan is to employ five to 10 adults and 10 interns to support the daily cafe operations.

 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, 02664. For more information, visit www.harwichfund.org.