COVID-19 Disaster Relief Grant
Historic Rotary Foundation Grant Awarded Locally
For the first time in Rotary District 7930’s history, the district has received a global grant from The Rotary Foundation. The grant amount is $94,500. The funds are to be used to provide Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) to the medical staff at St. Francis House in Boston and Care Dimension facilities on the North Shore. Ten thousand dollars will be used to supply food for the clients of St, Francis House. In addition to funding from The Rotary Foundation and District 7930, generous contributions from Rotary District 2650 in Kyoto, Japan, and the Rotary Club of Kyoto South made this grant possible. The leadership in Kyoto, Japan we eager to assist their sister city, Boston, with this humanitarian project. Local Rotary Clubs in Boston, Burlington, Burlington Breakfast, Gloucester, Lexington, Marblehead and Topsfield, Boxford, and Middleton also rose to the occasion and financially supported this project.
About Care Dimensions
Care Dimensions is the largest hospice and palliative care provider to adults and children in Massachusetts. As a nonprofit, community-based leader in advanced illness care, Care Dimensions provides comprehensive hospice, palliative care, grief support in more than 95 communities in Eastern Massachusetts. Founded in 1978 as Hospice of the North Shore, Care Dimensions cares for patients wherever they live – in their homes, in skilled nursing facilities and assisted living communities, in hospitals, or at our two inpatient hospice facilities, the Care Dimensions Hospice House in Lincoln and the Kaplan Family Hospice House in Danvers. Additionally, Care Dimensions HomeMD program provides in-home primary care to patients over age 65 in select communities on the North Shore and Greater Boston who have difficulty leaving home. The Care Dimensions Learning Institute educates more than 7,000 health care professionals and community members each year on advanced illness and end-of-life topics. Please visit www.CareDimensions.org to learn more about Care Dimensions.
About St. Francis House
Located in the heart of downtown Boston, St. Francis House is the largest day shelter in Massachusetts. Open 365 days a year, each day St. Francis House serves, on average, 500 men and women experiencing poverty and homelessness. We provide a broad range of basic, rehabilitative and housing services that build on one another to provide our guests with continuous and comprehensive care. A major element of the health care we offer is related to mental health, and each year our Mental Health and Case Management teams provide 12,000 instances of counseling services. In addition, our Client Engagement Services personnel serve as first responders for guests in distress.
COVID-19 has had a major impact on the population we serve, with mental health issues exacerbated by the stress and uncertainty the pandemic has brought with it. It has also impacted the way we deliver services to our guests, and St. Francis House has been hit with the unanticipated and ongoing expense of outfitting our counseling staff with personal protective equipment (PPE). In addition, the pandemic has altered the way in which we are able to provide meals (breakfast and lunch) to our guests, which has resulted in an uptick in costs associated with our food program.