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BJ’s Charitable Foundation(SM) Grants $365,700 to 66 Nonprofits That Benefit Children and Families

BJ’s Charitable Foundation(SM) Grants $365,700 to 66 Nonprofits That Benefit Children and Families

Published 05-26-09

Submitted by BJ's Wholesale Club

Natick, Mass. - May 26, 2009 - BJ's Charitable Foundation SM distributed 66 grants totaling $365,700 to nonprofit organizations that focus on the health and well being of children and families located in the communities in which BJ's Wholesale Clubs serve.

"BJ's Charitable Foundation is proud to maintain our level of giving despite these tough economic times," said Jessica Newman, BJ's manager of community relations. "Now more than ever, nonprofits are in great need and as a result we hope to increase our giving at future grant cycles this year to provide even more community support."

Below is a list by state of the 66 organizations that received grants through BJ's Charitable Foundation:

Connecticut
Burroughs Community Center (Bridgeport) - $5,000 toward the purchase of healthy snacks, supplies for cooking classes, homework assistance, and arts and crafts supplies for children in grades 5-9, attending the Center's after-school and summer programs.

Connecticut Mission of Mercy (Hartford) - $7,500 to cover costs of facility equipment rental, setup and breakdown, consumable dental supplies and post-event biohazard cleanup for their mobile dental clinic, which serves the under insured and uninsured.

Cornerstone Foundation (Rockville) - $5,000 to purchase food for their Community Kitchen that provides meals for men, women and children in need.

Everybody Wins! Connecticut (Hartford) - $5,000 for leadership training to students in grades 5-8, attending the most vulnerable schools in the Greater Hartford area.

Literacy Volunteers of Greater New Haven (New Haven) - $5,000 to train 50 new tutors who will help 130 adult students to improve their reading, writing and oral communication skills.

Mercy Learning Center (Bridgeport) - $5,000 to support the tutoring and ESL program for low-income, under-educated women in the Greater Bridgeport area.

The Diaper Bank (New Haven) - $10,000 to purchase diapers for low-income families.

The Thomas Merton Center (Bridgeport) - $5,000 for advocacy and intervention services and programs for families in need, primarily single mothers with pre-school children.

Florida
BASE Camp Children's Cancer Foundation (Winter Park) - $6,000 for the Food Basket Program, which offers a box filled with a week's worth of food to families that have a child with cancer or other life threatening illness.

4Children's S.A.K.E (North Lauderdale) - $2,500 to purchase Braille, large print, video, books on tape and computer software books for foster children that are visually impaired, blind, and deaf or have physical handicaps that make handling books a challenge.

Children's Bereavement Center (South Miami) - $3,000 for art supplies, books, snacks and program literature for its Peer Support Group, which gives children an opportunity to share their feelings and empathize with other children.

Children's Home Society, Southwest Division (Fort Myers) - $5,000 to provide portable cribs for more than 60 families in affiliation with the "Crib for Kids" program that educates families about the risk factors associated with Sudden Infant Death Syndrome.

Christians Reaching Out to Society (Lake Worth) - $5,000 to purchase food for Palm Beach County's four pantries that serve those suffering from hunger.

Communities in Schools Miami (Miami) - $5,000 to help pay a portion of the salary for a Senior Program Manger who oversees the mentoring and tutoring components of the Bridges to Graduation program, which strives to prevent students from dropping out of Miami-Dade County Public Schools.

Cool Kids Learn (Miami Lakes) - $2,000 to purchase snacks, games and toys for the incentives after school program focused on applying positive decision making skills when faced with risky behaviors through role play, situational analysis and skills development for children in grades 4-5 living in Miami Gardens, the second most dangerous mid-size city in the Unites States.

Cooperative Feeding Program (Fort Lauderdale) - $10,000 for food purchases at food banks and food wholesalers including produce, dairy and juice for Broward County's most needy citizens.

Orlando Health Foundation (Orlando) - $10,000 to fund Healthy Families Orange, which is an intervention program that works with families to prevent child abuse and neglect. The grant will provide emergency assistance, such as food vouchers for groceries, bus passes or cab fare for families to attend their child's medical appointments, emergency rent or utilities and temporary child-care assistance.

Safe House of Seminole (Lake Monroe) - $5,000 to purchase diapers, baby cereal and formula, after school snacks and art supplies for the SafeKid program that was established to provide a safe environment for children that have experienced domestic violence.

Saint Andrew Greek Orthodox Church (Miami) - $5,000 for food covering 10 months of weekly lunches, including fish, chicken, rice, beans, turkey, roast beef, condiments, coffee, tea and soft drinks for Miami’s elderly.

The Russell Life Skills and Reading Foundation (Davie) - $5,000 for overall funding of the after school and the summer programs that strive to eradicate illiteracy among inner city youth.

Women In Distress (Fort Lauderdale) - $5,000 for the overall funding of its Emergency Food and Shelter Program, a 62-bed emergency shelter for homeless women and their children, who are victims of domestic violence.

Georgia
Camp To Belong Georgia (Canton) - $2,500 to cover site fees for 10 children attending the camp, which reunites siblings placed in separate foster homes or other out-of-home-care.

Spectrum Technical Institute (Atlanta) - $2,500 to support Project M/PACT, a technology and mentoring program that provides weekend mentoring sessions, career exposure field trips, meals, weekly assessments, counseling sessions and other expenses for urban at-risk youth in the Greater Atlanta area.

Maryland
Abilities Network (Towson) - $5,000 toward its Healthy Families Baltimore County program that provides intensive home visitation and comprehensive services to the County's most vulnerable pregnant women and their newborn infants.

Walden (Leonardtown) - $5,000 for emergency food, taxi vouchers, and bus fares, as well as counseling for families healing from trauma associated with domestic violence.

Massachusetts
Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America (Needham) - $5,000 to fund The Asthma and Allergy Essentials for Child Care Program. The Program teaches child care providers, Head Start and preschool teachers about symptoms of an asthma or allergy episode, prevention and control of episodes, and use of medications and inhalers.

Barnstable Senior Center (Hyannis) - $5,000 to support the preparation of lunches at the Adult Supportive Day Program, which assists caregivers and families in looking after elders with limitations and in need of care during the day.

Bethany Health Care Center (Framingham) - $5,000 toward the purchase of new furnishings to help create a more home-like environment for its residents who range from 68 to 102 years old and suffer from chronic medical conditions.

Crispus Attucks Children's Center (Dorchester) - $7,500 in underwriting the cost for the teacher and parent training modules and materials for the Healthy Minds, Healthy Bodies program that provides children living in poverty with an annual physical and appropriate immunizations.

Easter Seals Massachusetts (Boston) - $5,000 for the overall funding of its Youth Leadership Initiative, which trains youth with disabilities on the skills necessary for successful and independent futures.

Everybody Wins Metro Boston (Boston) - $5,000 for training mentors and buying children's books for the Power Lunch Program that matches mentors with students once a week during lunch. The Program will benefit 45 students at Somerville's John F. Kennedy
Elementary School.

Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (Boston) - $5,000 in support of its Connecting Families Program, which links families to community services that provide parent support and education and clinical and social services for families with children at risk for poor outcomes.

Mission of Deeds (Reading) - $10,000 to purchase 82 bed sets that includes mattress, box-spring and bed frames for those in-need.

My Brother's Table (Lynn) - $5,000 to purchase food for its lunch program that will benefit 250 individuals.

Mystic Learning Center (Somerville) - $5,000 for the Girls Only program, for girls ages 12-16, which explores issues such as relationships, self-esteem, body image, exercise, nutrition, dating violence, mentoring, college and career choices. The grant will cover compensation for the facilitator, field trip transportation, admission fees, food and supplies.

New England Hemophilia Association (Dedham) - $5,000 for overall funding of the Hemophilia Family Camp that serves more than 200 people each year by educating children and their families on the disease, new treatment options and fitness.

Northeast Health Foundation (Beverly) - $5,000 for the Community Benefits Program that offers a wide variety of free health and wellness programs to children and families.

Outdoor Explorations (Medford) - $5,000 to support 50 youth with disabilities participating in kayaking programs that give them an educational and challenging adventure to instill confidence, communications skills and the benefits of teamwork.

Pine Street Inn (Boston) - $15,000 to support permanent housing -- a furnished, two-bedroom apartment that is maintained by the organization's facilities staff -- for 14 people.

Recording For the Blind & Dyslexic Learning through Listening (Cambridge) - $10,000 to train teachers and students on how to use audio books and incorporate them into curriculum. In addition, funds would support school memberships, which covers access to the nonprofit's library of the nation's most highly circulated textbooks in digital audio format.

The Franklin County Community Meals Program (Greenfield) - $3,000 toward the Bag Lunch Project, which sends evening, meal-site guests home with a bag lunch for the next day to the neediest families in Franklin County.

The Professional Center for Child Development (Andover) - $5,000 to support its educational and therapeutic services for infants, toddlers and preschool children with extensive medical and health care needs.

The Town of Ashland, Youth and Family Services (Ashland) - $5,000 to purchase food for its pantry to support at-risk youth and their families.

YWCA of Central MA (Worcester) - $15,000 for the overall operation of the Daybreak and Aralia Shelters, which are confidential, emergency shelters for women and their children fleeing domestic abuse.

New Hampshire
The Greater Nashua Dental Connection (GNDC) (Nashua) - $5,000 for the GNDC School Program that gives oral health care to uninsured children in Southern New Hampshire. The grant will be used to purchase dental supplies and provide oral health care to students in Nashua schools every other week throughout the year.

New Jersey
Camden Eye Center (Camden) - $5,000 to provide vital eye care services to 100 low-income children and families through the Sight First for Kids and Families Program.

New York
Francis Center (Niagara Falls) - $1,500 to fund a 4-week summer enrichment program for 20 second and third graders who are at-risk children living in low-income families. Funding would specifically support costs for books, activities, educational outreach program visitors and field trips.

G.R.A.C.E International (Brooklyn) - $5,000 to purchase food for its supermarket-style pantry that operates five days a week, serving 6,000-plus clients a month.

St. Peters Lutheran Church (Huntington Station) - $3,000 to purchase healthy foods for the Haven House, where volunteers shop and transport nutritious foods to 35 abused women and children, as well as to the Huntington Freedom Center, where volunteers deliver juice, milk, fruit and healthy snacks twice weekly for 50 children.

The Interfaith Nutrition Network (Hempstead) - $10,000 to purchase food for the Mary Brennan INN Soup Kitchen to help meet their 40% increase of clients due to the economy.

Two Doors Community Resource Center (Rochester) - $2,500 toward the purchase of new computers, printers and software for its After School Homework Assistance and Summer Education programs aimed at helping children, grades 2-5 that have been identified as being in need of academic or social intervention.

North Carolina
Care and Share Center, Inc. (Louisburg) - $10,000 toward the purchase, refrigeration and storage of food for distribution each week to individuals and families using emergency food assistance.

Ohio
Heartbeat of Sandusky (Sandusky) - $2,700 to purchase baby formula and bottles for 100 mother starter bags equipped with many other essentials for women in crisis pregnancies.

Pennsylvania
Aid for Friends (Philadelphia) - $5,000 toward the purchase of raw food to prepare meals for the organization's Emergency Meal Program, serving needy, homebound and frail elderly with free home-cooked meals that are delivered weekly by volunteers.

Arthritis Foundation (Philadelphia) - $2,000 to purchase adaptive aids, devices and the rental of a motor-powered scooter to assist in transporting children, ages 8-18, with the lowest levels of mobility, throughout their stay at Camp Juveniles Reaching Achievement.

Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia (Philadelphia) - $10,000 to the Mitzvah Food Project that works to alleviate hunger and malnutrition among at-risk families. The grant will be used to purchase nutritionally balanced and non-perishable foods and toiletries for more than 3,500 at-risk Philadelphia children, families and seniors.

Lehigh Valley Hospital and Health Network (Allentown) - $7,500 to support the Miles of Smiles mobile dental clinic to service children in Allentown who do not have access to dental care.

Opportunity House (Reading) - $5,000 to help pay for water, gas, electric and sewer bills for its Emergency Shelter that provides safety to homeless men, women and children.

The Career Wardrobe (Philadelphia) - $5,000 to support the Dressing and Image Consultation Program for low-income women transitioning into the workforce and in need of professional clothing, and to support the Gateway to Success Program that includes seminars and peer networking.

Rhode Island
Connecting for Children & Families Food Pantry (Woonsocket) - $5,000 to restock both perishable and nonperishable food, serving the lowest income families that are struggling daily with the city’s rising unemployment and low-wage work.

Meals on Wheels of Rhode Island (Providence) - $5,000 to support the Home Delivered Program, providing meals five days a week to homebound seniors across the state.

Washington Park Citizens Association (Providence) - $5,000 for free or reduced-cost child care for families that experience temporary financial crisis and need to keep their children in care.

Virginia
Chesapeake Health Investment Program (Chesapeake) - $5,000 to fund transportation services for case management home visits to children, prenatal through 6, who are at risk of poor health outcomes and lack of school readiness. Support will also be given for van expenses related to bringing pregnant women, new parents and their children to health and human services appointments.

Friends of the Elderly Non-Profit Foundation, Inc. (Norfolk) - $2,000 to purchase supplies, after school snacks, incentive rewards, book and materials needed for the Kids 1st Program - a 22-week tutorial program, which emphasizes math, reading, writing and provides enrollment in the organization's Transitional Housing Program and/or Community Outreach Program to low-income individuals and families.

Girls for Change (Richmond) - $5,000 to help train girls in low-income neighborhoods to identify, design and implement girl-led solutions for the challenges they face in their own communities from gun violence to racism to global warming.

Stop Child Abuse Now (SCAN) of Northern Virginia (Alexandria) - $3,000 to cover the costs of recruiting, screening and training new volunteers from the Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) Program. The CASA Program consists of community volunteers that advocate for the needs of the abused and neglected children to ensure that they have a safe, permanent home and a bright future.

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 (food, self sufficiency and health). Since its first grant in 2005, BJ's Charitable Foundation has given more than $6.7 million to over 700 deserving organizations. In 2008, BJ's Charitable Foundation and its vendor partners donated more than $1.7 million to over 150 non-profits including a $500,000 donation from the October Breast Cancer Awareness Campaign, which was divided among leading comprehensive cancer centers throughout BJ's footprint. The Foundation, with support from its vendors, has granted nearly $1.2 million through the October Breast Cancer Awareness Campaign since the campaign launch in 2006. For more information about BJ's Charitable Foundation and eligibility and application procedures, 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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