The Sean M. Gannon Memorial Fund Awards $6,000 in Grants

The Sean M. Gannon Memorial Fund of The Cape Cod Foundation recently awarded $6,000 in grants to eight nonprofit organizations.

The fund was created to honor Sgt. Gannon, a K-9 officer with the Yarmouth Police Department, who was killed in the line of duty on April 12, 2018. Its mission is to promote education, health, and leadership by encouraging service through action.

The 2020 grant recipients are:
Big Brothers Big Sisters of Cape Cod & the Islands, $500 to support youth mentoring
The Cape Cod Foundation, $500 for the Strategic Emergency Response Fund
Cape Cod Times Needy Fund, $1,000 for the Cape & Islands Major Crisis Relief Fund
Community Foundation of Southeastern MA, $500 for the Southcoast Emergency Response Fund
Southcoast Health, $1,500 to support the impacts of COVID-19
Stonehill College, $500 to provide financial assistance for students in need
Westfield State University, $1000 to support the “K9 Sgt. Sean Gannon Scholarship” for criminal justice students
YMCA Cape Cod, $500 to support childcare for essential workers

“We are continuing to support things Sean cared deeply about,” said Dara Gannon, the officer’s wife. “He earned his master’s degree in Emergency Management from the Massachusetts Maritime Academy and was part of YPD’s Emergency Management unit. If he was here now, he would be on the front lines serving the community, so we have awarded grants to several organizations responding to the COVID-19 crisis.”

Sean Gannon grew up in New Bedford and attended Westfield State University. Before coming to Yarmouth, he was a campus police officer at Stonehill College and spent 3 years as a mentor in the local Big Brothers Big Sisters program.

The Fund has also partnered with Calmer Choice to pilot a “Mindfulness for First Responders” program and plans to support a scholarship for recruits at the new Cape Cod Municipal Police Academy.

For more information about the memorial fund, visit: www.gannonfund.org. For more information about The Cape Cod Foundation, call 508.790.3040 or visit www.capecodfoundation.org. The Foundation is located at 261 Whites Path, Unit 2; South Yarmouth, MA 02664.