ATHOL — Three local nonprofit organizations are among the 12 agencies to benefit from nearly $100,000 in grants from the Heywood Healthcare Charitable Foundation this month.
The foundation recently announced that the Seeds of Solidarity Education Center in Orange, Athol’s North Quabbin Community Coalition and United Arc in Turners Falls are the recipients of $26,154.60 in grant funding earmarked for projects associated with their missions. According to the foundation, it dispensed $98,094.60 in total funding.
Seeds of Solidarity received $10,000, the NQCC got $9,500 and United Arc received $6,654.6.
Seeds of Solidarity promotes health, nutrition and access to fresh food in vulnerable communities. Executive Director Deb Habib said the money will be used to design and implement therapeutic gardens at the Quabbin Retreat, which is set to open in Petersham. Habib said the gardens will contain culinary and medicinal plants for patients battling addiction and behavioral health issues. She said the gardens will be a place for meditation, education, beauty and healing.
NQCC Executive Director Heather Bialecki-Canning said the grant will benefit the North Quabbin Jail to Community Task Force, which she said Franklin County Sheriff Christopher Donelan started a few years ago to help exiting inmates transition back into society. She said the money finances analysis of sequential intercept mapping that identified substance abuse and behavioral health issues as challenges people deal with after exiting prison and reasons related to why they were sent there.
The United Arc, a non-profit organization that works to ensure people with intellectual and developmental disabilities have access to equal opportunity, will put its $6,654.60 toward a proposed project called “The Healthy Families Living Well” program, a 10-week parent education and support program focusing on parents with a physical, mental or cognitive disability to help them improve their access to health care and nutrition.
You can reach Domenic Poli at: dpoli@recorder.com
or 413-772-0261, ext. 258
On Twitter: @DomenicPoli