Community Grant Awards 2016

The Y is working toward training 5% of the adult population over the course of 10 years, as research shows that having 5% of adults trained in preventing, recognizing and reacting to child sexual abuse is the tipping point where a real difference can be made. The Y of Greater Nashua has increased its work outside our facilities tremendously in the past 3 years. We are offering programs in schools and we are in partnership with other organizations that address community needs. The Summer Learning Loss Prevention Program held at Ledge Street Elementary School, Super Hero Training in Hudson’s HO Elementary School, and bringing the Title1 Preschool students to the Y for 8 free “Safety around Water” swim lessons are examples of this work along with our Darkness to Light Training. The training includes 2 hours of videos, group discussions and group work provided by Stewards of Children. We are in the beginning stages and are looking for more groups to train to increase the numbers of aware adults in our community, which will lead to better protecting our children. It is the responsibility of all of us to protect children from sexual predators. So if anyone has a group in mind to take this important training, please reach out to Sarah Sutherland at the Nashua Y, or Rotary Club member Beth Covino.

 

Presentation of Community Grants for 2016/2017: 

$3,600 to Big Brothers Big Sisters of New Hampshire/Casey Caster, Grant Manager – One-toOne Mentoring Program. Grant will support adding 20 new mentors in Nashua. Currently BBBS has 150 mentors. These funds will help with the interview and screening process, which costs $1200 per match. 

 

$5,000 to Boys & Girls Club of Greater Nashua/Sally Stanton, Chief Development Officer - Summer Camp Program funding for children living in poverty. The Boys & Girls Club’s Camp Doucet is open to children ages 6 – 13. Seventy percent of the children served by the Club live in poverty. The Rotary Club’s grant will allow them to offer scholarships to children in need. 

 

$1,500 to Bridges: Domestic & Sexual Violence Support of Greater Nashua /Dawn Reams, Director – Funding for their program which advocates for sexual assault victims of all ages (sadly as young as 1 year old). They train medical professionals to support victims and properly collect evidence so victims can have a strong case against their assailant. This grant will allow Bridges to purchase clothing for rape victims so they can leave behind their clothing for crime analysis.

 

$2,500 to Pre-Engineering Program at Fairgrounds Middle School/Teacher Bill Dubois and Principal Sharon Coffey - Science Technology Engineering and Math (STEM) program offered to students. Students won a statewide contest with their 3D printed home models (which they believe could be the future of architecture). Funding supports blueprint drawing on computer 3D printers.  

 

$3,200 to Home Health & Hospice/Tina Andrade, Director of Development – Grant will allow them to purchase a hospital-grade blanket warmer which will help provide comfort to patients upon admission to Community Hospice House, welcoming them into a warm place, in their last days of life.  

 

$1,200 to The PLUS (People Learning Useful Skills) Company - Life skills training program for individuals with disabilities. PLUS Company client Danielle Poirier spoke of how the program has helped her prepare to live independently. This grant will support a joint program between The PLUS Company and Rivier University, allowing PLUS Company students to take adult literacy classes on the campus of Rivier two times per week.

 

$5,000 to St. Joseph Community Services “Meals on Wheels” program/Daniel Poirier, Development Associate. This grant will allow SJCS to restore the 5th day of hot-meal delivery each week. (Due to budget restraints in 2012, they had to cut back their meal delivery from 5 to 4 days.) The delivery people are often the only people the recipients interact with all day or even all week. For 22% of their clients, delivery people are the only person they will see all week. Thirty-five percent of their clients report that do not always have enough money to buy the food they need in addition to the food SJCS delivers.

 

$3,000 – United Way of Greater Nashua for Sinfonietta Strings of Greater Nashua/Nancy Goodwin, Lead Teacher- Provides stringed instrument lessons and ensemble opportunities in Nashua, to students of all backgrounds which are not part of the curriculum. The existing string program in the Nashua School District is taught in four Nashua elementary schools. Their longterm goal is to reach students in all elementary schools in Nashua.