The Harwich Fund Awards $18,500 to Nonprofits Serving Community

SOUTH YARMOUTH — The Harwich Fund of The Cape Cod Foundation recently awarded $18,500 in grants to eight nonprofit organizations serving the Harwich community. These grants will help provide new, warm outerwear for local children, enriching arts/craft activities for seniors, community-wide cultural events, alternative programs for at-risk youth, and services to increase housing stability among Harwich residents in need.

A portion of The Harwich Fund 2023 Grants was made possible by a $3,000 donation from The 9th Annual Pugfest, a music event in Harwich that raises funds for local causes. “Once the event organizers, Pugga Routhier and DJ Thiele, became aware of The Harwich Fund’s philanthropic work in the Harwich community, they decided to leverage our knowledge of local needs along with organizations meeting those needs,” said Brian Scheld, chair of The Harwich Fund Advisory Committee. “Their generous donation allowed us to increase the amount of our grants and thus expand the impact we are collectively able to drive into the Harwich community.”

Scheld added, “Through other generous donations from a growing network of individual donors, we have now awarded over $55,000 in grants to help strengthen the critical framework that supports the Harwich community since the fund was established.”

Scheld noted, however, 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, we see that the needs are growing exponentially. This year, grant requests exceeded $58,000; our current grant capacity could only fund 30% of these requests. That’s why future fundraising is critical,” Scheld said.

This year’s grant recipients are:

Harwich Children’s Fund, $5,000
For the Winter Outerwear Drive for Harwich youth in need

Homeless Prevention Council, $2,500
For Personalized Case Management for Harwich families

Behavioral Health Innovators, $2,500
For the Positive Alternative to School Suspension (PASS) Program at Monomoy High School

The Cape Cod Theater Company $2,500
For The Town Read Project uniting the Harwich Junior Theatre, Brooks Library, The 204 Cultural Arts Municipal Building, and the Harwich Elementary School

Friends of the Harwich Council on Aging, $2,500
For the Cultural Arts Program targeted to Harwich seniors to enrich creative expression

Pleasant Bay Community Boating, $1,500
For field trips for Harwich Elementary and Middle School students

Harwich Chamber of Commerce, $1,500
For the inaugural production of A Cape Cod Christmas Carol in Harwich

Colorful Kidz, $500
For room makeovers for Harwich children in need

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, 0266