Business Digest

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Middlesex Savings Bank distributes $330K to food pantries

Middlesex Savings Bank this week announced additional funding from its charitable foundation’s $1 million COVID-19 relief fund. In this fourth wave of grant distribution, the Middlesex Savings Charitable Foundation is providing 33 local food pantries each with a $10,000 contribution to support their response to the pandemic. In MetroWest, the food pantries receiving funding are Community Supper - Acton Food Pantry in Acton and Boxborough, Ashland Emergency Fund/Food Pantry, Loaves & Fishes Food Pantry in Bellingham, The Open Table Inc. in Concord, SMOC – Community Meals Program, Hope Worldwide, St. Bridget’s Food Pantry, Daniel’s Table and Pearl Street Cupboard & Cafe, all in Framingham, Franklin Food Pantry, Holliston Pantry Shelf, Project Just Because in Hopkinton, Hudson Community Food Pantry, Maynard Food Pantry, Medfield Food Cupboard, Medway Food Pantry, Medway Village Food Pantry, Millis Ecumenical Food Pantry, A Place To Turn in Natick, Natick Service Council, Sherborn Widows and Orphans Benevolent Society, United Parishes of Southborough, Sudbury Community Food Pantry, KIDS Feast – Salvation Army Waltham, My Brother’s Table in Wayland, Celebration International Church Food Pantry in Wayland, Wellesley Food Pantry and Westborough Food Pantry. To date, the Middlesex Savings Charitable Foundation has distributed $760,000 from the relief fund to 73 nonprofits in the community. Middlesex Savings Bank is based in Natick.

Foundation for MetroWest grants $150K to nonprofits

The Foundation for MetroWest, the only community foundation serving the 33 cities and towns of MetroWest, this week announced it has awarded grants totaling $150,000 to nine arts and culture nonprofits serving the region. The 2020 Arts and Culture Grant Program thus resulted in the largest sum ever awarded by the foundation to arts and cultural institutions in a single year. The grants of up to $25,000 each are intended for general operating support, program support, and capacity building efforts, enabling each nonprofit to pursue opportunities that will help improve the quality of life across MetroWest. The nine organizations receiving grants will use the funding to add staff members, grow programming capabilities, recoup operating costs impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, fund new art installations and expand existing exhibits. Several organizations also plan to use the financial support to begin or expand diversity-centric initiatives, including exhibitions aimed at celebrating diversity, incorporating the stories of enslaved individuals, and a speaker series that will tackle race and identity issues. Following this latest round of grantmaking, the foundation has now distributed a total of $4.75 million to MetroWest organizations in 2020. The 2020 Arts and Culture Grant Program Recipients are Framingham History Center $15,000, deCordova Sculpture Park & Museum $25,000, Amazing Things Arts Center $20,000, Discovery Museum  $10,000, Gore Place Society $10,000, The Center for Arts in Natick $15,000, Lexington Historical Society $10,000, The Umbrella Community Arts Center $20,000 and Hopkinton Center for the Arts $25,000. The Foundation for MetroWest is based in Natick.

MutualOne awards $10,000 grant to Natick's Morse Institute Library

Steven M. Sousa, executive vice president and chief operating officer of MutualOne Bank and a MutualOne Charitable Foundation trustee, this week announced a $10,000 grant to Natick’s Morse Institute Library to support its initiative to digitize 84 microfilm rolls of the Natick Bulletin issues from 1869-2004. “The Natick Bulletin is the local newspaper of record for the town of Natick, yet the early issues are not digitally accessible anywhere,” said Morse Institute Board of Trustees President Kathleen Donovan. “This project will create a one-of-a-kind archive that is keyword searchable and is accessible to anyone from anywhere.” The grant to the Morse Institute Library was among awards totaling $131,500 in the foundation’s most recent round of funding. Established in 1998 as the philanthropic arm of MutualOne Bank, the Framingham-based foundation has since donated more than $5 million to charitable, educational and civic initiatives designed to improve and enrich the quality of life in Framingham, Natick and surrounding communities.