Greater Lowell Community Foundation

Personal Stories

Belinda Juran and Evan Schapiro: Helping to Maintain and Grow the Merrimack Valley’s Rich Cultural Tradition

Belinda Juran and Evan Schapiro

As residents of the Merrimack Valley for the past 25 years, Belinda and Evan often took advantage of the rich and diverse cultural opportunities that the region offered. Unlike Boston, where the scene is dominated by large cultural institutions with a large donor base, the Merrimack Valley's arts scene typically consists of a more diverse group of smaller and less well-known organizations. So, Evan and Belinda were especially surprised to learn that the Merrimack Valley did not have a permanently endowed Arts Fund dedicated to the support of local cultural organizations. MORE

Peter S. Stamas: Dedicated to Education in Lowell for 17 Years

Peter Stamas

Peter’s Passion: Education and civic involvement.
As headmaster of Lowell High School for 17 years, Peter shaped the minds of Lowell’s future leaders and led by example. He believed community services was the way to better our region’s quality of life. More...

Flagship Initiatives

The Greater Lowell Community Foundation champions innovative social change through special flagship initiatives that include: building scholarship endowments for America's oldest coeducational public school, reducing crime and drug use by the region's youth, and strengthening civic participation by immigrants and refugees.

Our current special initiatives include:

Lowell High School
Campaign for Educational Excellence

Securing a Legacy of Scholarships and Academic Enrichment Programs for Lowell High Students

Contribute to the campaign or an existing LHS fund

Lowell High School logoLowell High School is the oldest public high school in the U.S. and the second largest in Massachusetts. Many of its extraordinarily diverse students do not have the resources to pursue a college education. In addition, LHS faces challenges from reduced public financing.

Through the Campaign for Educational Excellence, Lowell High School and the Greater Lowell Community Foundation are building a $5 million endowment to provide permanent scholarships to college-bound seniors. These funds also support enrichment programs that enhance the school’s curriculum with guest lectures, performances, field trips, and other special projects. More about the LHS Campaign for Educational Excellence

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Substance Abuse Diversion Initiative of Lowell (SADIL)

Donate to the SADIL program.

SADIL aims to reduce substance abuse and criminal behavior of chemically dependent 17- to 25-year olds. The program, which combines police training and intensive treatment services with community support, improves the health and safety of Greater Lowell’s city and towns by reducing crime and returning productive and responsible citizens to their families and communities. It is a partnership of the Lowell Police Department, Lowell House, Inc., the City of Lowell, and the Greater Lowell Community Foundation. Recently the project has expanded to serve other towns in the region. To date over 1,200 police officers throughout Middlesex County have received in-service training to encourage local youth to make positive choices over incarceration and a police record.

Learn more about the Substance Abuse Diversion Initiative

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Celebrate Giving! Philanthropy Day

Celebrate Giving! brings together community volunteers, civic leaders, local philanthropists, and nonprofit professionals from across the region to discuss current issues and opportunities for civic engagement, community philanthropy, volunteerism and charitable giving.

The theme for 2008 is Bridging Sports and Philanthropy. Featured speakers include Drew Weber, president of the Lowell Spinners and spokesman for the Joann Weber Charitable Fund. WEEI’s Steve Buckley will MC the morning’s festivities and tell us about his own sports philanthropy, the OldTime Baseball games for charities.
Learn More and Register online here.

Celebrate Giving! Sponsorship
We invite you to become a sponsor of the Celebrate Giving! Philanthropy Day event.

Click here for more information about sponsorship.

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