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BJ’s Charitable Foundation Donates More Than $492,000 Dollars to 68 Nonprofits that Provide Basic-need Services

Foundation has distributed more than $2 million dollars through its quarterly grant cycle this year

BJ’s Charitable Foundation Donates More Than $492,000 Dollars to 68 Nonprofits that Provide Basic-need Services

Foundation has distributed more than $2 million dollars through its quarterly grant cycle this year

Published 11-18-09

Submitted by BJ's Wholesale Club

BJ's Charitable Foundation distributed 68 grants totaling $492,700 to nonprofit organizations that focus on providing services in the areas of hunger prevention, self-sufficiency, health care, and education to children and families in need that reside in the communities BJ's Wholesale Clubs serve.

"BJ's Charitable Foundation is proud to continue supporting some of the best organizations in our communities who focus on social services," said Jessica Newman, manager of community relations for BJ's Wholesale Club. "We are especially happy to give back during the holiday season to assist the nonprofits with their increased demand for donations."

Below is a list by state of the 68 organizations that received grants through BJ's Charitable Foundation:

Connecticut
Community Soup Kitchen (New Haven)
- $5,000 to support a portion of the general operating costs of the soup kitchen, which is expected to serve more than 70,000 meals in 2009.

Connecticut Food Bank (East Haven) "“ $15,000 to support warehousing and transporting of donated food. Through warehouses in East Haven, Fairfield, and Waterbury, and distribution sites in New London and Stamford, CFB provides 31 tons of food products to more than 650 soup kitchens, shelters, food pantries and daycare programs daily in Fairfield, Litchfield, Middlesex, and New Haven, New London, and Windham counties.

The Open Door Shelter (Norwalk) - $10,000 to stock their chest freezers and storage pantry with non-perishables and frozen meats. During 2008, they served 191,594 soup kitchen meals and 179,493 food pantry meals to homeless and working poor men, women and families throughout the state of Connecticut, with the majority of clients coming from Norwalk.

Village for Families & Children, Inc. (Hartford) - $10,000 for clothing, food, sheets, pillows, blankets, sports equipment, and after school activity supplies for the Safe Home Program, which is a short term residential facility for children, between ages birth to 12, who have been removed from their families for the first time.

Delaware
YWCA Delaware, Inc. (Wilmington)
- $5,000 to purchase food and clothing for clients at its Home-Life Management Center, which is a temporary housing program that provides safe and secure housing with individualized skills training to homeless families.

Florida
Daily Bread Food Bank (Miami)
- $15,000 to leverage their bulk buying power to purchase nutritious food such as rice, beans, peanut butter, tuna and beef stew. The Daily Bread Food Bank distributes food to 800 member agencies serving approximately 146,653 unduplicated individuals per year.

HandsOn Jacksonville (Oviedo) - $5,000 to purchase backpacks, educational books and toys to be given out at their 2009 annual literacy event being held in 16-18 of their most challenged elementary schools.

Hope Foundation for the Homeless (HOPE), Inc. (Oviedo) - $5,000 to be expended in partnership with Second Harvest Food Bank for volume basic food item purchases to meet the needs of over 30,000 individuals and also enable granting a full bag of food basics to needy individuals and families this coming Christmas.

South Florida Cancer Association (Doral) - $7,500 for Project SCREEN, which provides breast cancer screenings to underserved women residing in the Miami Dade and Monroe Counties.

Sulzbacher Center (Jacksonville) - $10,000 to provide nutritious meals to the homeless men, women and children of Northeast Florida. The funds will be used to buy food and paper products necessary for giving nutritional meals to the hungry.

Teaching Tools for Hillsborough Schools (Tampa) - $5,000 to purchase supplies for its "supply store" that more than 2,000 teachers from Title I schools and educational sites are eligible to shop, once a month taking up to $280 of free school supplies back to their classrooms. Title 1 schools are the largest federal funded education program authorized by Congress that provides supplemental funds to school districts to assist eligible public and private schools with the highest student concentration of poverty to meet school educational goals.

Volunteers of America Florida (Miami) - $10,000 to purchase food and supplies for individuals and families that are experiencing homelessness and other economic hardships or disabilities.

Women's Center of Jacksonville, Inc. (Jacksonville) - $5,000 for program administration, student supplies, babysitting, transportation assistance costs, and a classroom instructor to increase the number of women served for The Expanded Horizons Program, which assists women who are 18 years old and above who need assistance with reading, basic math, English as a Second Language, GED preparation and computer skills.

Georgia
All Grown Up, Inc (Stockridge)
- $5,000 to purchase supplies, cover field trips costs, facility fees and personnel expenses to operate after-school programs to 75 at-risk girls.

Atlanta Community Food Bank (Atlanta) - $5,000 to purchase nutritious food that will provide more than 23,000 meals for the growing numbers of unemployed and low-income families in the community.

Everybody Wins! Atlanta (Atlanta) - $5,000 to go toward serving 2,000 students for both the Power Lunch Program and StoryTime Literacy initiative during the 2009-10 school year in public elementary schools throughout the Metro Atlanta region. Program expenses include the cost of training mentors and buying children’s books and other materials

Furniture Bank of Metro Atlanta (Atlanta) - $10,000 toward fuel and truck maintenance expenses of the nonprofit’s two, 24-foot box trucks that pick up donations of essential household furnishings Monday through Friday for individuals and families moving out of homelessness.

Maine
Child Health Center (Auburn)
- $5,000 to fund their Big Brothers Big Sisters mentoring program, including healthy snacks and activity boxes that contain items such as basketballs, board games, books and craft materials.

Southern Maine Agency on Aging (Scarborough) - $5,000 to provide one month of meals to more than 100 homebound older people in Portland. This program serves over 800 people every weekday in 51 towns.

Maryland
Bright Beginnings, Inc. (Washington DC)
- $5,000 to support a portion of the salaries and benefits for teachers, speech pathologist, OT, High/Scope Trainers as well as staff training, classroom supplies and space rental. The nonprofit addresses the special needs of homeless children ages six weeks to five years and their parents through extensive support and innovative educational, therapeutic, and family social services.

Massachusetts
A Place To Turn (Natick)
- $7,200 to the "Healthy Learners: Feed the Body, Feed the Mind" initiative within their food pantry. This initiative targets families with young students in school who need certain nutrients for healthy development. The grant will impact 800 families during a 6-month period.

A Suitable Image, Inc. (Framingham) - $5,000 for the Men's Clothing Distribution program providing low-income clients, who are referred from job training or educational programs, with free "gently used" quality business attire and accessories appropriate for job interviews.

Boston Health Care for the Homeless Program (Boston) - $7,000 for its Family Teen Program, which conducts outreach work to family shelters, domestic violence shelters and daycare centers delivering healthcare and supportive services to homeless families. Funds will be used to purchase diapers, over-the-counter medications, and formula and transportation vouchers for 200 family members.

Boston Medical Center (Boston) - $10,000 to hold a free cancer screening on a Saturday morning that will cover the costs of EMS services, testing supplies, advertising, refreshments and entertainment.

Boston Learning Center (Lynn & Revere) - $5,000 to fund the "Smart is Cool America" program for 150 students, including instructional materials, community outreach efforts, food and refreshments for participants, incentives and personnel. The workshop helps 6th-12th grade students who are typically failing core subjects or repeating a grade by showing them that they can do well in school, while still having fun and being themselves.

Center for New Americans (North Hampton) - $5,000 to go towards teacher salaries for both the English as a Second Language and technology classes, impacting about 200 students over the course of the year and its funds will be matched by a Department of Elementary and Secondary Education.

Community Health Center of Cape Cod (Bourne) - $10,000 to fund the education, screening, assessment, clinical services through the Family Resource Center, which was established to improve the health and well-being of children and adolescents and their families by providing access to mental health services.

Cradles to Crayons (Quincy) - $10,000 toward the Gearing Up for Winter initiative, which will provide 400 children with winter packs filled with one week's worth of warm clothes, boots, coats, and other supplies necessary to stay safe and warm during the New England winter.

Henry Lee Willis Community Center (Worcester) - $5,000 to purchase 2,084 meals for the pantry. The organization serves more than 11,000 individuals and families annually. The services they provide at their center include emergency food pantries, case management services, emergency clothing and assistance with a job search and placement.

Jewish Family & Children's Services of Greater Boston (JF&CS) (Waltham) - $10,000 to purchase food for the pantry that currently serves almost 500 individuals on a monthly and emergency basis to individuals and families in need. JFCS also reaches approximately 800 individuals annually through the Nutrition Services educational programs.

Natick Visiting Nurse Association (Natick) - $5,000 to help defray the costs of medical supplies used for healthcare services to patients in their homes.

New Hope (Attleboro) - $10,000 for partial cost of the Bilingual Crisis Intervention Specialist as well as hotline and training costs. The nonprofit is a domestic violence and sexual assault agency that serves 54 cities and towns in Central and Southeastern Massachusetts.

Reach Out and Read (ROR) (Boston) - $10,000 to purchase books for children to take home at each well-child pediatric visit from ages 6 months to 5 years, and trainings for medical providers. ROR serves 3.8 million children annually at over 4,500 clinics, hospitals and health centers across the country.

Rosie's Place (Boston) - $10,000 to purchase food for both the Dining Room Meal Program that provides lunch and dinner daily, 365 days a year and a Food Pantry that allows nearly 1,300 poor and homeless women a month to take home 20-40 pounds of food for their families.

The Salem Mission (Salem) - $5,000 to support the Community Meals Program expenses including food, food preparation and supplies that serve 300 meals a day, 7 days a week to shelter guests and members of the community.

New Hampshire
Corpus Christi Food Pantry and Assistance (Nashua)
- $5,000 to support the cost of purchasing food for the Food Pantry and to augment the demand for emergency grants within the Assistance Program. In 2008, Corpus Christi provided combined assistance to a total of 15,729 individuals.

New Jersey
Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA) for Children of Monmouth County (Eatontown)
- $3,000 to recruit, screen, train and support volunteers to advocate for abused and neglected children within the court system that are in out-of-home placement.

Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA) for Children of Ocean County, Inc (Toms River) - $3,000 to enable two training programs, which will educate 15-18 volunteers and will serve a total of 20-25 individual abused and neglected children within the court system that are in out-of-home placement. The funds will be utilized specifically toward training space, supplies, refreshments and guest speaker fees.

Dress for Success Mercer County (Hamilton) - $5,000 toward management and administration costs of their boutique and its Professional Women's Group (PWG). PWG offers supportive services of consulting, coaching and clothing selection for disadvantaged women. The grant will impact 350 women in the coming year.

Francis House (Camden) - $5,000 to provide community service opportunities and meals through 2009-2010 fiscal year for those infected and affected by HIV and AIDS. Francis House serves as a safe haven for persons with the virus and provides them with companionship, nutritious meals, and an opportunity to develop trusting relationships with folks who can assist individuals and families addressing and managing their disease.

Ladacin Network (Wanamassa) - $10,000 toward the Specialized Clinic Program to support psychiatry, neurology, and nutrition clinics to children and adults with disabilities at no cost.

Literacy Volunteers in Mercer County, Inc. (LVMC) (Hamilton) - $5,000 to support Turning Volunteers into Tutors, their tutor in training program. LVC provides free, confidential tutoring to help increase basic literacy for adults and ESL clients.

Jersey Battered Women's Service (Morristown) - $10,000 for food and household items as well as apartment refurbishment upon a client’s departure at The Simon House - the organization's transitional living program for abused women.

Womanspace, Inc. (Trenton) - $5,000 to purchase supplies for the nonprofit's Barbara's House, which is a short term housing option of 3-to-6 month stays for individuals impacted by domestic and sexual violence.

New York
Cayuga/Seneca Community Action Agency (Auburn)
- $5,000 to purchase both diaper wipes and creams for its Healthy Families Program, which focuses on care and basic needs for children of low-income families. The grant will impact 50 families.

Food Bank for New York City (New York) "“ $15,000 to purchase food that will be distributed among its 1,000 member food providers that serve approximately 300,000 meals a day to New Yorkers in need.

Green Guerillas (New York) - $10,000 to provide urban agriculture internships for teenagers in Central Brooklyn. These funds will help boost the harvest of local fresh food Central Brooklyn neighborhoods like Stuyvesant and Brownsville. The food is distributed to both local families and local food pantries and the job creation provides career direction for teenagers.

Notre Dame Learning Center (Rochester) - $5,000 to purchase educational materials, math and reading workbooks, computer and printer supplies for approximately 150 economically and educationally disadvantaged children each year.

Project Hospitality (Staten Island) - $10,000 to maintain The Moveable Feast. This mobile unit will serve 14 communities of need that were previously under-served or un-served. Project Hospitality plans to serve over 2,000 individuals annually through this service.

Rochester Education Foundation (Rochester) - $5,000 to purchase the books, blankets, and ribbons for the Book & A Blanket holiday season project. This is a program that gives more than 4,000 pre-kindergarten to second graders a book and a handmade fleece blanket for the holidays.

The Children's Village (Dobbs Ferry) - $5,000 to support a portion of the salary for a Youth Advocate from its StreetWise Street Outreach Program. The Program consists of a team that makes three outreach trips per week in the evening hour to help street-involved youth access safe, long-term housing so they can leave the streets. Youth Advocates have first hand knowledge of life on the streets and are former or current clients of the program

North Carolina
Cabarrus Partnership for Children (Concord)
- $5,000 to purchase new activity kits, children's books, and professional development materials for early childhood teachers for their Mobile Resource Center, that is equipped with a wide variety of early education materials for early childhood educators and families with young children.

Meals on Wheels of Rowan, Inc. (Salisbury) "“ $5,000 to pay for three Third Party Pay clients (who are unable to pay anything) to have meals for an entire year. This equals to three meals a day for an average of 22 delivery days a month.

Second Harvest Food Bank of Metrolina (Charlotte) - $10,000 to purchase food for five proposed mobile pantries to be held in rural counties with high poverty rates and will deliver food to approximately 1,500 families.

Ohio
Akron-Canton Regional Food Bank (Akron)
- $5,000 to purchase 5,293 pounds of bulk cereal product which will create 4,135 meals.

Cleveland Foodbank (Cleveland) - $5,000 to purchase food that will be distributed to their network of agencies, which serves 450 hunger programs.

Pennsylvania
Domestic Violence Services of Cumberland & Perry Counties (Carlisle)
- $5,000 toward shelter utilities, a 24-hour telephone hotline, food, client prescriptions and transportation for adult victims of domestic violence and their children. More than 125 adults and children will benefit from this grant.

Garage Community and Youth Center (Kennett Square) - $5,000 to purchase school supplies for students, including materials for school projects, conduct background checks on volunteers and staff and a small portion to help pay salaries for after-school program staff. The Mentoring Program provides students with academic and graduation project support, internship searches, jobs, and help changing negative behavior into positive.

Maternal and Child Health Consortium of Chester County (West Chester) - $5,000 to help fund the salaries of the Parent Educators who address roadblocks to care for low-income women and their children. These include linguistic and cultural barriers, lack of health insurance and delayed or no prenatal care.

Meals on Wheels of Lehigh County (Allentown) "“ $5,000 to subsidize meal costs for clients (1,587 meals) whose incomes are below the poverty level and pay their lowest fees. This year they are delivering meals to more than 450 clients each week.

Meals on Wheels of Northampton County (Bethlehem) -$5,000 to subsidize the cost of 4,274 meals among the 430,000 they prepare annually. Meals on Wheels fills 43 routes daily from 1,100 volunteers to deliver meals throughout Northampton County, serving more than 780 clients each day.

The Children's Hospital Foundation (Philadelphia) - $20,000 to fund medical supplies for the Homeless Health Initiative, which provides medical care to homeless children.

Rhode Island
RI Mentoring Partnership (Warwick)
- $5,000 to help the organization conduct an intensive statewide campaign to recruit, screen, as well as train and match 500 volunteer mentors with at-risk youth across the state. They will recruit, match, and support 4,400 mentoring relationships this year alone.

Rhode Island Community Food Bank (Johnston) - $15,000 to offset the escalating transportation costs associated with food distribution. At the end of this fiscal year they will have distributed more than 9 million pounds of food including meat, fresh fruits and vegetables as well as canned goods.

Visiting Nurse Services (VNS) of Newport and Bristol Counties (Portsmouth) - $5,000 toward the salaries and benefits of employees who work in VNS Maternal Child Health Program. The program serves low income and under-served children and families with preventive care, health screenings, and education.

Virginia
Bethany House of Northern Virginia, Inc. (Alexandria)
- $5,000 to cover several months of the mortgage and heating for their largest shelter that serves battered spouses and their children, who are homeless and destitute because of abuse.

Foodbank of Southeastern Virginia (Norfolk) - $10,000 to provide backpacks containing food to 50 children at risk of hunger with food to take home during the school year. The program seeks to ensure youth have nutritional meals over weekends and during holiday breaks. The backpacks are provided to the students once a month for 9-11 times a year.

Sudden Infant Death Services (SIDS) Mid-Atlantic (Haymarket) - $10,000 for 200 new, portable cribs to needy families through its Cribs for Kids program.

About BJ's Charitable Foundation
BJ’s Charitable Foundation was established with the mission to enrich every community BJ's Wholesale Clubs serve. The Foundation supports nonprofit organizations that primarily benefit the underprivileged in the area of basic needs (hunger prevention, self sufficiency, education and health). For more information about BJ’s Charitable Foundation please visit, www.bjs.com/charity.

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BJ's Wholesale Club

BJ's Wholesale Club

About BJ's Wholesale Club

Headquartered in Westborough, Massachusetts, BJ's is a leading operator of membership warehouse clubs in the Eastern United States. The company currently operates 207 clubs in 15 states.

BJ’s provides a one-stop shopping destination filled with more top-quality, leading brands including its exclusive Wellsley Farms and Berkley Jensen brands, which are all backed by BJ’s 100% money-back guarantee; more fresh foods from USDA Choice meats to premium produce to delicious organics in many supermarket sizes; and more great value and amazing savings every day. BJ’s is also the only membership club to accept all manufacturers' coupons and for greater convenience offers the most payment options.

Giving back has always been at the very core of BJ’s culture, too. Through local clubs, volunteerism, BJ’s Feeding Communities and BJ’s Charitable Foundation, the company supports and enhances programs that provide vital services within each community it serves. Additionally, BJ’s is focused on preserving the Earth for future generations through a wide array of responsible sourcing and sustainability efforts. For more information, visit www.bjs.com/community.

To check out all the MORE BJ’s has to offer, visit www.bjs.com and for exclusive content find us on Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest.

About BJ’s Charitable Foundation

BJ’s Charitable Foundation was established with the mission to enrich every community BJ’s Wholesale Clubs serve. The Foundation supports nonprofit organizations that primarily benefit the underprivileged in the areas of hunger prevention and education. To learn more, visit www.bjs.com/charity.

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