Harvard Pilgrim's 2016 Grants Benefit Several NH Nonprofits

Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Foundation donated nearly $2.5 million in grants to more than 900 nonprofits in Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts and NH in 2016. Since its inception in 1980, the Foundation has granted more than $140 million in funds throughout the four states.

More than $1.4 million of these grants was distributed to the Foundation’s Healthy Food Fund initiatives within the region, with funds supporting programs that grow, distribute and/or market fresh food for low-income families and communities across the region. 

Healthy Food Fund grants included:

• $952,416 in second-year Healthy Food Fund grants to 20 nonprofit community food initiatives in Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts and NH.

• $246,000 in the first round of Healthy Aging grants to 24 nonprofit programs in Massachusetts, Maine and NH. The funded programs helped older adults eat better and stay connected to their communities through community garden, cooking and nutrition programs.

• $280,500  to support five mobile farmers’ markets in Massachusetts, Connecticut, Maine and the NH Seacoast.

“While we are supporting community growers and markets on the supply side, we are also helping programs that build consumer demand for healthy food,” says Karen Voci, president of Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Foundation.  “Through cooking classes, nutrition and shopping education, as well as coupons that double a family’s purchasing power, we can continue to increase customers’ demand for the food grown right here in New England. That’s great for our health, for our environment, and for our economy.”

Eleven NH-based organizations were among the major grant recipients, receiving a total of $297,000. These organizations include:

• Lakes Region Partnership for Public Health, Inc. in Laconia received $50,000 for cooking demonstrations and community gardens at its pop-up farmers’ market.
• NH's Healthy Aging Grants program received $42,000 for community gardens and cooking and nutrition classes for older adults. 
• Seacoast Eat Local in Dover received $40,000 for its mobile farmers’ market.
• Women’s Rural Entrepreneurial Network in Bethlehem received $40,000 for its Farmers’ Market Grow Healthy Initiative and outdoor teaching kitchen. 
• Health Resources in Action, Inc. in Massachusetts received $40,000 for its Healthy Food for NH Families Project.
• New Hampshire Food Bank in Manchester received $30,000 to extend its production garden.
• Tamworth Community Nurse Association received $28,000 to expand Tamworth Farmers’ Market SNAP.
• Endowment for Health in Concord received $10,000 for its Food Access Project.
• Foundation for Healthy Communities in Concord received $10,000 for the Healthy Food Programming of HEAL NH.
• City Year New Hampshire in Manchester received $5,000 for its Service Day activities.
• The Hitchcock Foundation in Lebanon received $2,000 to help fund student-led cooking demo at Claremont Soup Kitchen.