Personal Stories

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

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’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...

A Hospital's Health Care Legacy

When Deaconess-Nashoba Hospital was sold to a for-profit corporation, neighbors and patients wondered whether their community would still have the benefits it had enjoyed from the formerly nonprofit hospital. As a nonprofit, Deaconess had provided a variety of services using as resources its charitable funds. What would happen to those services once the hospital was privatized?

The Nashoba Community Hospital Corporation, which formerly owned the nonprofit hospital, converted a bewildering array of charitable endowments into two major funds through a new philanthropic partnership between GLCF and the Community Foundation of North Central Massachusetts. Now over $3.5 million is dedicated to improving community health in sixteen towns through two jointly managed endowments, the Nashoba Valley Community Health Care Fund and the Nashoba Valley Professional Health Care Education Fund.

The two funds will share a joint advisory committee, made up of community members with expertise in health care issues, who will collectively make recommendations on directing the funds’ income. Thus, the dispersal of the money will have strong local involvement. The two foundations are looking to award over $150,000 a year to support scholarships for students pursuing study in the allied health care fields, continued training for workers in those fields, and other items as recommended by the advisory committee.