Baskin’s Customers Round Up For Local Nonprofits

ORLEANS – What’s the difference between paying $9.45 for something and $10? For the Baskin family and their employees, it’s a lot. 

Staff at Baskin’s ACE Hardware locations in Orleans, Harwich Port and South Yarmouth, as well as those at Brewster ACE Hardware, have been encouraging customers to round up their bills at checkout to the nearest dollar, with proceeds going to support two Cape nonprofits.

In July, all rounded up funds were donated to the Nicholas G. Xiarhos Memorial Foundation. The foundation is named in honor of Nicholas Xiarhos, who died from a roadside bomb while serving in the Marines in Afghanistan in July 2009. 

On Sept. 4, Nicholas’s father, State Rep. Steven Xiarhos, R- Barnstable, stopped by the Orleans store on South Orleans Road, where he was presented with a check for $8,192.66 from the rounded-up donations. That figure does not include an additional donation made to the foundation by the Baskin family, Baskin’s co-owner Lynn Colangione said.

The foundation supports veterans, veteran families and first responders on the Cape and Islands. Most notably, the foundation hosts the annual Big Nick’s Ride for the Fallen, a motorcycle ride held in honor of 16 Cape-based service members that have lost their lives in service since Sept. 11, 2001. 

Baskin’s has a close connection to the foundation. One of the business’ longtime staffers, Marcus Farias, was a close friend of Nicholas Xiarhos, Colangione said. In the years since Xiarhos’ death, she said Baskin’s has raised “tens of thousands” of dollars in support of the foundation.

In past years, Baskin’s sold wristbands in support of the annual Big Nick’s ride. But the round up fundraiser has proven even more successful, Colangione said.

“We got so many more people just because it was a low ask,” she said. “So many more people participated, and they knew it was going to a local cause.”

During his visit, Rep. Xiarhos talked with Baskin’s staff about his son, the foundation and its mission of supporting local veterans. In particular, he discussed how many veterans die from suicide, and the foundation’s ongoing effort to provide support for veterans in crisis.

“It was just really powerful to hear his story and what it means to people,” Colangione said.

September is National Suicide Prevention Awareness Month, and in support of the mission, Baskin’s is holding another round up fundraiser this month with proceeds going to support the Harwich-based nonprofit Sharing Kindness. The nonprofit offers a variety of programs and services around grief support, suicide awareness and mental health education.

The issue of suicide is one that hits close to home for Baskin’s, according to Colangione, who said two staffers have recently been impacted by the deaths of someone close to them by suicide.

“It’s such a problem,” she said. “Not just on the Cape, but everywhere.”

Dr. Kim Mead-Walters, co-founder and executive director of Sharing Kindness, said in an email that proceeds from the fundraiser will go to support the nonprofit’s “clinician-led grief groups,” as well as its Hope Squad program, which trains students and staff in 14 schools across the Cape and Islands on suicide awareness and how to help other students who might be in need of help.

“We want to empower voices and encourage open conversations about mental health,” she said. “Baskin’s ACE Hardware, by partnering with Sharing Kindness through their  ‘round up’ campaign through the month of September, is supporting these conversations.”