Rivers Givers Award 2017 Grants
Rivers Givers, the school’s student philanthropy organization, presented grant checks to four deserving organizations on Friday, April 28, to support the work they are doing to serve families and children in the Greater Boston area. Representatives from Creative Start, Bridge Over Troubled Water, The Michael Carter Lisnow Respite Center, and The Children’s Room spoke to the entire Rivers community about how they will put their grants to work.
“Each of these non-profits helps to address problems pertinent to our faculty and students, and we are confident that our donations will go a long way in aiding each of these issues,” Rivers Givers member Tony Milne ’17 said.
Rivers Givers holds several fundraisers throughout the school year, such as dress-down days, t-shirt sales, and the Homecoming Dance, and those funds are then matched by the Parents’ League.
“We thank everyone in the Rivers community for participating in the several fundraisers that have allowed us to raise the money for donation this year,” Rivers Givers member Ben Puritz ’17 said. “We also want to give a special thank you to the Parents’ League, who have matched our funds every year, and allowed us to double the size of our donations.”
Rivers Givers are trained through a curriculum that focuses on the workings of philanthropy, the relationship between nonprofit and government services and funding, and understanding how to read nonprofit budgets and proposals. Next year the program will be open to all juniors who upon completion of the four-workshop curriculum will be able to evaluate proposals and make grant decisions.
This year’s Rivers Givers are Tony Milne ’17,Trevor Ballantyne ’17, Nikki Fish ’17, Holly Glass ’17, Thabi Khumalo ’17, Maddie Muller ’17, Ben Puritz ’17, Chloe Smith ’17, Tommy Benjes ’18, Emma Chowdhury ’18, TK Fischman ’18, Gigi Goldaber ’18, Ben Joiner ’18, Sophia Pacific ’18, Isabel Teixeira ’18, and Maya Wasserman ’18. Director of Service Learning Kit Cunningham oversees the organization.
For more than 40 years, Creative Start, a program of Communities United, has provided early childhood education and other family services to low-income families in the Greater Boston area. They have multiple locations, including their Waltham location where more than 60 Rivers students have volunteered over the past three years. With the funds from Rivers Givers, Creative Start will expand its library of picture books to include more options in all nine of the languages spoken by the children and families they serve.
Bridge Over Troubled Waters is a non-profit organization that offers services to runaways, homeless, and high-risk youth. Its signature program is the ground-breaking Mobile Medical Van and trained Street Outreach team that make contact with homeless youth throughout Boston and Cambridge. These programs provide medical attention, survival kits, clothes, food, and referrals to open intake services at Bridge and other agencies throughout the city. With the funds from the Rivers Givers grant, Bridge will continue to build its Education and Career Development Program which provides support for children who are looking to earn a high school diploma, pursue a college degree, or learn job search skills necessary to enter the workforce.
The Michael Carter Lisnow Respite Center in Hopkinton provides emotional and physical support for individuals with special needs and their families so that they can maintain regularity within their lives and allow time for themselves. No matter the needs of the child or the family, the Respite Center has programs that create a home away from home for children and adults with disabilities. The funds from Rivers Givers will support the Respite Center’s scholarship fund.
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