Charitable Contributions for 2019 

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$11,161 to Arc of the South Shore, a Weymouth-based agency that provides services for children and adults with cognitive, physical and other intellectual and developmental disabilities. Our grant was directed to their Autism Resource Center, which was developed in 2014 to address a gap in support services for families. It was used to purchase a Smartboard with associated vocational training accessories to support the Arc’s efforts to teach basic skills  and to help attendees explore and find employment opportunities. We also helped provide clothing with the Arc’s logo to individuals already working, training or volunteering in the community, both to increase visibility in the community and to give those individuals an even greater sense of pride in what they are doing.

$14,958 to Carroll Center for the Blind in Newton. For over 75 years this organization has worked effectively with those with vision loss, helping them to learn the skills needed to be independent in their homes, classrooms and workplaces. MCMA’s grant was used to provide a variety of tools and equipment to support two separate programs: a woodworking program that is used to develop students’ non-visual skills and to use their hands to gather and interpret information; and a technology device lab that allows students to learn and practice with popular technology devices (smart phones, iPads, etc.) both inside and outside of class time. Both programs promote skill development and independence in their own unique way.

$10,460 to Challenge Unlimited, which uses therapeutic horseback riding at its Ironstone Farm in Andover to benefit children with a wide range of physical, emotional and cognitive disabilities. Their programs also serve a range of individuals that include veterans with PTSD, teens at risk, adults with disabilities, people in recovery from addiction, and many others. Those programs, though, are located in several buildings scattered throughout the farm, and an ongoing (and time wasting) problem has been outdated or incompatible computer equipment spread among those buildings that impairs communication and efficiency. Our grant was used to help upgrade those systems so they can function effectively.

$5,133 to the Children’s Center for Communication - Beverly School for the Deaf in Beverly. Founded in 1876 to serve deaf and hard of hearing children, this school expanded its mission in the 1970s and began accepting hearing children with communication challenges and deaf children with learning and developmental disabilities. Our grant this year enabled the purchase of a handicapped accessible stove top, microwave and wall oven as the school outfits a kitchen in their newly constructed Life Skills Center. The center is designed to support high school students, the majority of whom have complex physical challenges, as this school continues to blend vocational and life skills training to prepare students to become independent and fully-participating members of their communities.

$4,253 to Citizens Inn to purchase a heavy-duty automatic meat slicer. This Peabody-based organization works to help families and individuals across the North Shore who are experiencing a housing crisis or food insecurity, with programs designed to help them prepare for and transition to a sustainable life. One of its programs (Haven from Hunger) operates a food pantry and runs a community-meals program that served over 15,000 meals last year. It also partners with Northeast Arc to provide employment training in the food service area for people with disabilities.

$15,260 to the Cultural Center of Cape Cod in South Yarmouth, a nonprofit that offers a wide range of programs, and serves as both arts and community center. Our grant was directed toward its Education Wing, where they work to provide those with special needs and challenges (from intellectual and physical disabilities to homelessness to substance abuse) with creative activities that will help them develop skills and find employment on Cape Cod. More specifically, it was used to purchase three wood-turning lathes and accessories to expand the Center’s woodworking program and it’s capacity to host workshops and provide one-on-one mentoring for students.

$12,079 to Dearborn Academy, which in 2017 had to relocate from its historic location in Arlington to a newly renovated facility in Newton, necessitating a complete make over of its shop programs. Students at this special education day school arrive with a variety of concerns that include impulse-control, learning disabilities and mental health issues. Dearborn considers vocational and shop programs to be vital to their success with these children, and our grant was used to continue the upgrade and expansion of their shop programs, this year with a focus on equipment and tools to improve safety.

$3,190 to the Doctor Franklin Perkins School in Lancaster, a 122-year old institution that provides year-round residential, educational and day treatment for children and adolescents who struggle with a wide range of mental health diagnoses. In support of the school’s Adult Transition Program, which provides academic and hands-on vocational training for transitional age youth (age 17-21), MCMA’s grant was used to purchase a refrigerator and small appliances for their Snack Shack business. This is an on-campus enterprise run by ATP students as part of the culinary training program. In addition to safe food preparation, it involves the students in customer service, telephone orders and money handling, as well as sanitizing their equipment and understanding the finances of the business

$7,631 to Double Edge Theater Productions, a non-profit founded in 1982 and located in Ashfield. This organization creates original theater works while also training and teaching emerging artists and interns, and the students learn all aspects of production and design, such as lighting, props, costumes and set pieces. Further, Double Edge has an ongoing partnership with the Springfield School District, through which many students from economically disadvantaged households are afforded an opportunity for high-quality creative and professional training that they might not otherwise see. This past year MCMA helped Double Edge upgrade and expand their metal shop program with drilling, cutting, welding, and fume extraction equipment. This upgrade is expected to result in an increase in the number of interns and students who can be accommodated in the program.

$34,862 to the Eliot School in Jamaica Plain, which has for many years offered quality education to day and evening school students in a variety of fine and applied arts, and has more recently introduced a School Partnership Program that brings woodworking and art to public school students. Our grant this year was used in part for equipment for the school’s sewing and photography programs, but it was mainly devoted to the woodworking program with the purchase of a 16” planer/jointer to replace worn existing equipment, additional dust collection equipment, and a variety of smaller equipment and tools.

$6,629 to Employment Options, a small, Marlborough non-profit that has been serving adults with mental illness since 1970. Our grant was specifically directed at their Catering Options enterprise which trains unemployed or underemployed individuals who face significant barriers due to their disability and skill gaps. As this successful catering enterprise has grown, so too has its equipment needs. Our grant, used to purchase a commercial-grade stove with double-convection ovens, will increase their capacity to provide additional catering services and to train more individuals for work in the culinary industry.

$8,342 to the Essex Historical Society and Shipbuilding Museum, which since 1993 has been introducing students from Essex and surrounding communities to carpentry and boat building through the construction of small rowing craft. Through partnerships with local schools the museum works with small groups to build boats, make tholepins, grommets and oars to row with, and even learn how to row the boats on the Essex River. Our grant was used to purchase power and hand tools to support this program.

$8,104 to the Home for Little Wanderers for equipment, tools, testers and spare parts to support a new Small Machinery Repair curriculum at their Walpole campus. Many of the children at school on this campus (it serves 40+ co-ed youth age 12-18) have suffered neglect and abuse, and most are behavioral and moderately learning disabled. In addition to academics, the Home tries to introduce them to real-life work experiences and skills through various programs, knowing that many of these children will not return to their families but will transition to group homes or to independent living. It is hoped that this new program will provide further opportunity to prepare them to work and live independently.

$4,384 to Lovelane, a Lincoln nonprofit that provides high-quality therapeutic horseback riding in a supportive environment to achieve occupational, physical,  cognitive and other therapeutic gains, focusing on children with special needs. With MCMA’s grant they were able to replace a horse that had to be retired this year, and to purchase several support items. One hundred twenty-four children come to Lovelane each week for safe, highly beneficial therapeutic horseback riding sessions and unmounted classes, and we are pleased that MCMA has been able to assist.

$3,029 to Lowell’s Boat Shop & Museum in Amesbury, the oldest operating boat shop in America, and the sole survivor of the area’s renowned dory manufacturing industry. Established in 1793, Lowell’s works to preserve and perpetuate the art and craft of wooden boatbuilding, teaching woodworking, boatbuilding, finishing, engine maintenance and repair, etc. to a broad range of young people and adults, and engaging a very active group of volunteers.

Lowell’s uses many hand tools and some archaic power tools that are in keeping with their historic status. But in their dedicated classroom space they require modern equipment for reasons of health, safety and efficiency, and MCMA was able to help in that regard with a variety of smaller power and hand tools.

$7,245 to the MassBay Foundation, a 501(c)(3) non-profit that assists MassBay Community College (MBCC) in obtaining grants to support and strengthen its programs. Our support was directed toward MBCC’s  Automotive Technology Center (ATC), which operates at the Ashland campus and has very successfully trained hundreds of Massachusetts residents for jobs in automotive fields. The ATC’s training programs are sponsored by four major automobile brands, and provide students with in-depth automotive technology training, utilizing state-of-the-art diagnostic equipment on manufacturer-donated, late model vehicles.  With our grant ATC purchased a Multi Meter Certification System that will further align their automotive training with industry standards and improve students’ technical skills.

$6,997 to May Institute, more specifically to its May Center School for Brain Injury and Neurobehavioral Disorders in Brockton. This nationally-recognized school serves 50 students ages 5-20, with classrooms of six to seven. Teachers and clinicians work with students to help them regain cognitive skills and independence needed to return to public schools, jobs, family life and other community settings. Vocational training is part of the school’s overall approach, and our grant purchased a hot/cold vending cart for the school’s cafeteria, where students learn about the hospitality trade and train for employment in food preparation and serving.

$4,978 to National Braille Press in Boston. Founded over 90 years ago, this organization promotes and nurtures the Braille literacy of blind children and youth, and prints and publishes reading materials that blind people of all ages need to fully pursue their goals in education, work and life. Our grant was used to purchase an electric binder and a thermoform machine to help NBP cope both with increased printing needs and with the decreasing reliability of older machines currently in use.

$30,079 to North Bennet Street School, which helps students to achieve meaningful livelihoods by offering intense, hands-on training in traditional trades and fine craftsmanship. This North End school’s full-time programs include specialty professions such as preservation carpentry, piano technology, violin making and repair, locksmithing, bookbinding and jewelry making. Our support this year provided a heavy duty, long bed 20” jointer for the Cabinet & Furniture Making program, various equipment for the school’s Preservation Carpentry, Bookbinding, and Jewelry Making & Repair programs, plus dust collection equipment for the Continuing Education program’s heavily used lathe studio.

$17,859 to Northeast Arc of Danvers, which provides employment opportunities for people with disabilities and serves as a pathway for them to obtain competitive jobs within the community. With our 2018 grant Northeast Arc was able to add nine shredders at their very successful Heritage Shredding business, enabling Heritage to further grow this business, increase volume, add new customers, and (importantly to us) add new employees as well. This year we were able to further support that expansion with the purchase of a Solid State Shredder and 100 new barrels.

$17,974 to Old Sturbridge Village, the outdoor museum in Sturbridge that, with over 40 original buildings brought to the museum from all over New England, depicts early 19th century life in a rural New England town. In addition to daily demonstrations to educate visitors about historical trades, OSV conducts classes and workshops, partners with local vocational high schools for hands-on learning experiences, and offers year-long apprenticeships with Village tradesmen for those with a deeper interest in the trades. This year OSV sought to extend vocational classes to Old Sturbridge Academy, the charter school it established in 2017 and now enrolls 200 students, ranging from Kindergarten to 4th grade. Our grant was used to introduce a woodworking program for the 4th graders and to provide upgrades for the Museum Education Woodworking Studio.

$4,660 to Pleasant Bay Community Boating in Harwich. This organization began in 2003, giving sailing lessons to local kids as a way to introduce them to healthy outdoor activities. A few years later it broadened that mission by adding programs for students with intellectual and developmental challenges, and since acquiring its own waterfront property on Pleasant Bay in 2014 it has greatly expanded its programs. It is now adding a Boat Workshop in collaboration with the Marine Engine Department at Cape Cod Tech, and plans to incorporate wooden boat building into that program. Our grant was used for equipment to help get that initiative off the ground.

$8,745 to South Shore YMCA, which operates Camp Burgess & Hayward in Sandwich, Massachusetts and for over 100 years has been providing rewarding summer camp experiences to children from all walks of life. Three years ago they created a program to give both boy and girl campers a chance to develop skills in woodworking and sate use of tools, and to apply those skills to work on lasting projects for the camp properties. The program has been both popular and successful, and MCMA’s grant was used to broaden it with the purchase of dust collection equipment for their workshop and with a sawmill that will allow the Camp to turn their harvested trees into lumber for their projects.

$3,425 to Wareham Boys and Grls Club, which provides a safe haven for its members, but works to go well beyond basketball and crafts by supporting a strong academic program that emphasizes science, technology, english and math. MCMA’s grant will enable them to expand and advance an entry-level Robotics Program that gives kids hands-on experience with building mother boards and robots … a program we helped to create in 2017.

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