People who work in finance and real estate sometimes suffer a bad reputation. Their misdeeds – rightly – are widely reported and loudly denounced. Too often, however, their many acts of charity go unnoticed.
Each day, Banker & Tradesman’s inbox is filled with evidence of charitable acts by people and companies in those industries. We try to report as many as possible. But our space is limited, as is our ability to convey the often life-changing impact of these community-minded contributions.
Acknowledging that we mention here only a handful of the scores of donations and assistance our readers provide their communities and nonprofit organizations throughout Massachusetts, we recount a few of their acts of generosity that have touched us and which we are honored to share again:
Each year, Boston’s commercial real estate community donates about $1.5 million to the charity Heading Home in Cambridge, which provides emergency, transitional and permanent housing, and job training to low-income homeless and formerly homeless families and individuals – many of them single mothers.
Massachusetts banks contribute more than $61 million to charities in the commonwealth, and employees of those banks volunteer countless hours to community organizations throughout the state.
In addition to donations by member banks, the Massachusetts Bankers Association’s Charitable Foundation recently gave $131,500 in grants to 33 organizations – from soup kitchens to boys’ and girls’ clubs to a suicide prevention task force.
Poli Mortgage Group Inc. of Norwood gave $1,200 to Bread and Roses Housing in Lawrence to help a low-income family realize their dream of buying a home.
CPCU Credit Union in Cambridge provided backpacks and school supplies to the Portuguese School of Cambridge and Somerville.
Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage, whose president Pat Villani is a longtime and generous supporter of The Home for Little Wanderers, recently joined with Walsh Brothers Inc., to donate gift cards for teenagers at the home to use to shop for clothing, music and other items on their holiday wish lists.
Insurer Liberty Mutual Group Inc., already one of the largest supporters of nonprofits and community groups in the Boston area, announced in September that it will increase local donations in the coming year by about 20 percent to $17 million from $14.2 million.
Over Thanksgiving, Woburn-based Cummings Properties donated $111,000 to an array of local charities.
The Danversbank Charitable Foundation Inc. donated $10,000 to Career Collaborative of Boston, to support efforts to help chronically low-income adults.
The MutualOne Charitable Foundation gave $5,000 to the Sherborn Police Department to buy five automatic external defibrillators to be used in medical emergencies.
Marlborough-based Digital Federal Credit Union donated $50,000 to area food banks and pantries for its second consecutive year.
All of these acts of benevolence – and many more that we have not mentioned – enhance our communities and elevate our spirits.
We thank you all. And we wish you a peaceful holiday season.
