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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Sarah Roxburgh, Veterans Legal Services, 857-317-4474, sarah@veteranslegalservices.org
Contact: Alison Harding, Cummings Foundation, 781-932-7093, aeh@cummings.com
Veterans Legal Services awarded $150,000 Cummings grant
Boston nonprofit receives 3 years of funding from Cummings Foundation
Boston, July 20, 2023 – Veterans Legal Services is one of 150 local nonprofits that will share in $30 million through Cummings Foundation’s major annual grants program. The Boston-based organization was selected from a total of 630 applicants during a competitive review process. It will receive $150,000 over a period of 3 years.
Veterans Legal Services is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that helps Massachusetts veterans overcome adversity by providing free civil legal aid that honors their service, promotes well-being, and responds to their distinctive needs.
“Veterans Legal Services is proud to be a three-time Cummings Foundation grant recipient. It is remarkable how much social good has been achieved in Greater Boston due to the generosity of the Cummings family. In VLS’s case, their support helps us ensure that veterans’ most urgent unmet needs—legal needs—are met, which promotes their stable housing, economic security, and healthy families,” said Sarah Roxburgh, VLS’s co-executive director and chief of operations.
VLS’s unique service delivery model provides legal help on-site at homeless shelters and service centers to reach veterans that might otherwise go without the assistance they need. The generous support of the Cummings Foundation will allow VLS to provide essential gap-filling civil legal services to veterans including eviction/homelessness prevention, helping veterans access financial and medical benefits, appealing discharge orders, and promoting healthy financial relationships by securing equitable divorce, child custody, parenting time, and child support arrangements.
The Cummings $30 Million Grant Program primarily supports Massachusetts nonprofits that are based in and serve Middlesex, Essex, and Suffolk counties.
Through this place-based initiative, Cummings Foundation aims to give back in the areas where it owns commercial property. Its buildings are all managed, at no cost to the Foundation, by its affiliate, Cummings Properties. This Woburn-based commercial real estate firm leases and manages 11 million square feet of debt-free space, the majority of which exclusively benefits the Foundation.
“The way the local nonprofit sector perseveres, steps up, and pivots to meet the shifting needs of the community is most impressive,” said Cummings Foundation Executive Director Joyce Vyriotes. “We are incredibly grateful for these tireless efforts to support people in the community and to increase equity and access to opportunities.”
This year’s grant recipients represent a wide variety of causes, including housing and food insecurity, workforce development, immigrant services, social justice, education, and mental health services. The nonprofits are spread across 46 different cities and towns.
In 2011, Bill and Joyce Cummings became the first Massachusetts couple to take the Giving Pledge, publicly pledging to donate the majority of their wealth for philanthropic purposes. Cummings Foundation has now awarded $480 million to greater Boston nonprofits.
About Veterans Legal Services
Veterans Legal Services (VLS) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that promotes equity by providing free and comprehensive civil legal aid services to economically disadvantaged military veterans in Massachusetts. VLS helps former service members obtain the stability and financial security necessary to live the healthy, happy, and dignified lives they deserve. Today, VLS serves roughly 900 veterans per year and is the leading legal services organization in Massachusetts devoted exclusively to supporting the civil legal needs of military veterans. For more information, please visit www.veteranslegalservices.org.
About Cummings Foundation
Woburn-based Cummings Foundation, Inc. was established in 1986 by Joyce and Bill Cummings of Winchester, MA and has grown to be one of the largest private foundations in New England. The Foundation directly operates its own charitable subsidiaries, including New Horizons retirement communities, in Marlborough and Woburn, and Cummings Health Sciences, LLC. Additional information is available at www.CummingsFoundation.org.
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