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The developers, banks, construction companies, credit unions, real estate brokerages, property managers and others in Massachusetts’ real estate and banking industries had a busy year this year.
At a time when inflation and recession fears helped increase demands on some companies’ charitable activity, they also crimped the profits that funded those donations.
Still, they found ways to give money and staff time, or organize their community’s charitable powers, to help those around them. Here’s a small selection of what they did:
January
Stephen Whalen, managing director at Boston-based City Realty, poses for a photo with workers at the Dorchester Winter Farmers Market to celebrate the developer’s donation, through its City Kids foundation, of $7,500 to the market to preserve a coupon program that helps lower-income Bostonians buy fresh fruits and vegetables. Photo courtesy of City Realty
February
Leominster-based Rollstone Bank & Trust pledged $5,000 over two years to the Spanish American Center, a nonprofit that provides food, shelter, clothing and other necessities, as well as academic enrichment and youth workforce readiness programs to the Latino community in Leominster. Photo courtesy of Rollstone Bank
March
Hanscom Federal Credit Union participated in the South Boston St. Patrick’s Day Parade with a float honoring veterans and their families as well as veteran organizations Hanscom FCU supports. Pictured on the float (from left to right) are Hanscom FCU board members Hugh McNeil and Dave Pronchik, Hanscom FCU President and CEO Peter Rice and Home Base Director of Development Dan Arkins. Photo courtesy of Hanscom Federal Credit Union
April
Naveo Credit Union board members Mario Brum (left), Jennifer Lawrence (second from right) and Isaac Machado (right) pose with local students Paul Bizarria, Mia Rivera Asmen and Kevin Clark. Naveo Credit Union awarded four scholarships totaling $7,500 to Bizarria, Asmen, Clark and a fourth student on April 12. Photo courtesy of Naveo Credit Union
May
DCU employees pose for a photo to celebrate a sock collection drive the credit union hosted at its 26 branch locations and back offices in May. DCU collected a total of 2,600 pairs of socks that were distributed to 20 nonprofits throughout Massachusetts and New Hampshire. Photo courtesy of DCU
June
Woburn-based Northern Bank employees pose for a photo after helping a displaced family of three into its new, permanent home in Dorchester in June. The assistance was organized through nonprofit Heading Home’s “Up & Out” program, and bank employees also outfitted the home with a variety of household essentials donated by their colleagues. Photo courtesy of Northern Bank
July
New England Legal Foundation President Dan Winslow (left) and Equalizer Institute COO Christina Knowles (right) pose with Cummings Properties co-founder Bill Cummings in Woburn.
Cummings Properties, the Woburn office landlord, donated $225,000 to the New England Legal Foundation through its foundation. The conservative activist group said the grant will support its new “Equalizer Institute,” which it described as “a new social and economic justice initiative aimed at providing free corporate legal services to underrepresented entrepreneurs.” Photo courtesy of the New England Legal Foundation
August
Boys & Girls Club of Providence Executive Director Nicole Dufresne poses for a photo with Heather Nelson, Carl Brockman and Jaime Osimore of HarborOne Bank and club members from the Boys & Girls Club of Providence in June. Brockton-based HarborOne Bank gave $25,000 to the Boys & Girls Club of Providence to renovate and expand the nonprofit’s Wanskuck Clubhouse. Photo courtesy of HarborOne Bank
September
Unidentified Berkshire Bank staff pose for a photo during a volunteer event in September, dubbed its “Xtraordinary Day.” Over 1,000 Berkshire Bank employees in five states – Massachusetts, New York, Vermont, Connecticut and Rhode Island – blocked out one afternoon to help clean up and beautify neighborhoods and parks in the bank’s service area, build homes, and other activities. Photo courtesy of Berkshire Bank
October
Leadership South Shore, a leadership development program created by South Shore Bank in collaboration with the South Shore Chamber of Commerce, held a ceremony celebrating its 2023 graduating class, pictured. Founded in 2016, Leadership South Shore is a professional development program with a goal of cultivating community-minded leaders who create positive change for the region and its residents. Photo courtesy of South Shore Bank
November
Suffolk chairman and CEO John Fish (second from right) and Scott Rice (third from right), the former general leading the state’s migrant shelter crisis response, assemble USO holiday care packages for active-duty military members Along with 50 volunteers from Fish’s construction firm and the Massachusetts Port Authority, 1,000 USO packages were produced on No. 30, filled with necessities for active-duty military members who can’t be home during the holiday season. Photo courtesy of Suffolk
December
Metro Credit Union CEO Robert Cashman (front row, third from left) poses for a photo with leaders of six Boston-area nonprofits that received a total of $55,000 in donations from the credit union’s foundation on Dec. 11. The money will go to fund a range of programs, from the installation of Little Free Libraries in Lynn to a matched-savings program for lower-income area residents and an emergency food pantry in Lawrence. Photo courtesy of Metro Credit Union
