MassMutual Foundation donates $225,000 to nonprofit organizations on behalf of local financial professionals

SPRINGFIELD, Mass., June 18, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- The MassMutual Foundation has awarded $225,000 to eligible nonprofit organizations through its annual Community Service Awards (CSA) program. These charitable contributions ? which include two $25,000 awards, fifteen $10,000 awards, and five $5,000 awards ? are given in honor of MassMutual financial professionals who demonstrate outstanding commitment to nonprofit organizations in their local communities.

"Our Community Service Awards program recognizes a group of MassMutual financial professionals who were selected for demonstrating the true value of living mutually by giving back to the communities in which they live and work," said Dennis Duquette, Head of MassMutual Community Responsibility and President of the MassMutual Foundation.  "We are proud to support the organizations and causes that are so meaningful to our financial professionals and the communities they serve across the country."

This year's two $25,000 CSA grants are being awarded to the Center for Great Expectations (CGE), on behalf of Richard Fortune, a MassMutual financial professional in Warren, N.J., and to the Jewish Family Service of Colorado (JFS), on behalf of Scott Stillman, a MassMutual general agent in Denver.

The Center for Great Expectations in New Jersey aims to break the cycle of homelessness, substance abuse, and mental illness among pregnant and parenting women and adolescents. Fortune serves as Chair of the Development Committee and has been instrumental in helping CGE with its fundraising and development. His passion for helping young families runs deep: Fortune himself grew up in an orphanage until he was adopted by a loving single mother. He says the grant will fund parent-infant counseling services to families in long-term treatment.

Jewish Family Service of Colorado provides vital social services to people in need. JFS helps seniors maintain a high quality of life, provides quality mental health counseling to children and adults, offers training and job placement to people with significant barriers to employment, and provides food and financial aid to individuals and families in crisis. Stillman says that the expressions of gratitude on the faces of families in need underscores the good JFS is doing. The grant will help JFS prevent homelessness through its family support services that provide individuals and families in crisis with food, limited emergency financial assistance, care management, employment support.

Additional CSA grants have been awarded to the following nonprofit organizations on behalf of the referenced MassMutual financial professionals:

$10,000 Community Service Award Recipients

• Boys & Girls Club of Greater Lynchburg (Chris Boswell, Lynchburg, Va.)
• Philadelphia Ronald McDonald House (Samuel Christie, Bala Cynwyd, Pa.)
• Care Center-Child Abuse Response And Evaluation, Inc. (Aaron Curry, Oklahoma City)
• YMCA of Metropolitan Dallas (Daniel Drabinski, Dallas)
• Arc Broward, Inc. (Craig Eppy, Fort Lauderdale, Fla.)
• Raising a Reader Massachusetts, Inc. (Justin Hayward, Boston)
• HEROES, Inc. (George Kinigopoulos, Rockville, Md.)
• Women's Initiative of the United Way of Central Massachusetts (Kerri Melley, Boston)
• Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, Inc. (Alejandro Mendieta, Miami)
• The Baseball, Inc. (John Navien, Boston)
• San Antonio Fitness Independent Recreational Environment (SAFIRE) (Darren Scrimpshire, San Antonio)
• Treasured Time, Inc. (Anthony Truino, New York)
• Positive Coaching Alliance (Douglas Van Order, Roseville, Calif.)
• Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation International (JDRF) (Ted Wight, Hunt Valley, Md.)
• The Cleveland Police Foundation (Jeffrey Zemito, Cleveland)

$5,000 Community Service Award Recipients

• Lake Highlands Area Band Club (Joel Carson, Dallas)
• Ken Anderson Alliance (Chris Collier, Cincinnati)
• Patriots Path (Tim Flanagan, Charlotte, N.C.)
• Exceptional Foundation of Charlotte (Andrew Spafford, Charlotte, N.C.)
• Chinese American Planning Council, Inc. (CPC) (Xue Wang, New York)

Since 1996, more than $2.3 million has been donated to nonprofits through the Community Service Awards program. The CSA program is just one of a variety of philanthropic programs sponsored by the MassMutual Foundation in support of nonprofit organizations that operate where MassMutual's financial professionals live and work.

About the MassMutual Foundation

The MassMutual Foundation strives to broaden economic opportunity for America's youth and their families by investing in financial education for middle and high school students across the United States and economic development and education locally in Springfield, Mass. The Foundation is a reflection of MassMutual's longstanding dedication to corporate citizenship and its unwavering commitment to the communities in which we do business. To learn more about the MassMutual Foundation please visit www.massmutual.com/responsibility.

About MassMutual

MassMutual is a leading mutual life insurance company that is run for the benefit of its members and participating policyowners. MassMutual offers a wide range of financial products and services, including life insurance, disability income insurance, long term care insurance, annuities, retirement plans and other employee benefits. For more information, visit www.massmutual.com.

Contact:
Chelsea Haraty
(413) 744-4062
[email protected]

SOURCE MassMutual