Putting Care Into Action: Rivers Givers Club Presents Annual Grants to Local Nonprofits

In a ceremony that has become an annual tradition, the 2025–26 Rivers Givers cohort awarded $10,000 in grants to two local nonprofit organizations in early May. This year’s grant recipients are Vineyard Havens, which helps families experiencing cancer rest and have fun by providing all-expenses paid vacations to Martha’s Vineyard, and Spoonfuls, which combats food insecurity in Massachusetts by recovering and distributing food that would otherwise be wasted. 

Before presenting this year’s grant awards, Rivers Givers student leaders provided background on their fundraising efforts and the process of selecting grant recipients. The club is open to juniors and seniors, and seniors lead the group’s work. “Seniors planned and ran all training sessions and worked with the juniors to host numerous fundraisers, review grants, visit nonprofits, and vote on grant awardees to ultimately give a total of $10,000 to two deserving organizations,” Joely Gubitosi ’26 explained. Gubitosi, Barrie Abraham ’26, Chloe Chiktara ’26, Patrice Girard ’26, Kate Hayes ’26, Savannah Maldonado ’26, Vivian Malloy ’26, Liv Martin ’26, and Hannah Piché ’26 were this year’s club leaders.

Hayes commented, “We learned how to assess a nonprofit’s organizational structures and impact, explored our personal philanthropic motivation and values, and got to hear from an expert and Rivers parent, Ms. Pam Martin [P’26, ’29], about how to make a case for support and strategies for effective fundraising.”

The group took suggestions from the Rivers community for nonprofits that they should invite to apply for grants. For each of the 17 organizations that applied for funding this year, Rivers Givers students considered what need the funding would address and how Rivers is connected to that cause, what the impact of Rivers’ funding would be in the context of the organization’s budget, and the overall strength of the organization’s proposed use for the funds. 

After selecting four finalists, students conducted site visits, and each organization also gave a presentation for the students. “We got to see firsthand how the programs work and how our grant would make an impact,” explained Piché. Of the four finalists, Vineyard Havens and Spoonfuls ultimately rose to the top, and Rivers Givers awarded them $5,000 each. 

Chiktara and Martin presented the grant for Vineyard Havens, saying, “We were inspired by their strong application and support of families going through cancer treatment. During our site visit presentation, there was so much passion and dedication to ensuring equitable access and support for individuals during these unexpected times.” 

Maldonado and Hayes presented the grant for Spoonfuls, saying, “We were immediately impressed by Spoonfuls’ dual mission to eliminate food waste while also addressing food insecurity.” Spoonfuls’ founder and CEO is Rivers alum Ashley Stanley ’97, adding an extra layer of connection between the Rivers community and this grant.

Jeanne DeSanto, founder and president of Vineyard Havens, and Martha Buckely, director of corporate and foundation relations at Spoonfuls, accepted the grant awards. DeSanto and Buckley each also gave brief presentations about their organizations and personally thanked the Rivers community for supporting their work. 

This year, Rivers Givers had 31 members—a record for the club. Their work would not be possible without the entire Rivers community, though. Throughout the year, the community supported the club’s fundraising efforts, which included the annual Holiday Tournament T-shirt sale and dodgeball fundraiser, as well as bake sales and raffles. Students raised $5,000, which Rivers matched for a total of $10,000 in grant funding. “We hope today helps you see the impact those contributions are making in our local community,” said Hayes. 

“If you don’t care, you can’t make a difference,” DeSanto noted in her remarks. “So, thank you for caring. Thank you for donating.”