Nearly 150 business leaders, nonprofit professionals, and community members gathered at the Radisson in Chelmsford for the Greater Lowell Community Foundation’s Annual Meeting, “Road to Recovery,” on June 5, 2018. The evening’s keynote speaker was Middlesex District Attorney Marian T. Ryan. Ryan is recognized for her leadership on the opioid crisis and her innovative programs that address all aspects of abuse and addiction—prosecution, prevention, and treatment. In 2012, she founded the office’s first Opioid Drug Task Force in the Lowell region. At the meeting, she spoke about local efforts including her work to establish a drug court program in Lowell to assist people in recovery. A major impediment to the program is transportation as participants are travelling from across the region to attend programming and public transport can put participants at risk for relapse.

The Trustees of the Theodore Edson Parker Foundation established a fellowship award at the Greater Lowell Community Foundation in honor of former Trustee Tom Leggat. In recognition of Tom’s interest in the advancement of youth and his dedication to the betterment of Lowell, an award of up to $5,000 will be granted to at least one young promising Lowellian.

The Greater Lowell Community Foundation and the Community Foundation of North Central Massachusetts awarded grants to five local towns through the Nashoba Valley Community Healthcare Fund to help improve the health of residents. The towns of Ashby, Devens, Dunstable, Lancaster, and Shirley each received a grant totaling $15,593 for a Lucas Chest Compression System, which replaces manual chest compressions during CPR. With the awarding of these grants, every community in the Nashoba Valley Healthcare Fund’s service area will now have these state-of-the-art medical devices.

The Greater Lowell Community Foundation has awarded $136,887 to 17 nonprofit organizations through its 2017 Discretionary Grants Program. These grant awards are part of a competitive grant process in which nonprofit organizations apply for funds and an independent committee reviews proposals and selects awardees. The Discretionary Grants Program is one of several competitive grant programs offered through the Community Foundation each year.

The Greater Lowell Community Foundation has added seven local business and community leaders to its board of directors. These newly elected directors represent the banking, corporate, and nonprofit sectors. From the Community Foundation’s current catchment area the new board members will serve for three-year terms.

Juniper Networks, which creates innovative technologies that help customers connect ideas, compete, and thrive in our ever-changing world, today announced that its Community Grant Program is awarding a $10,000 grant through the Greater Lowell Community Foundation Center for Business Philanthropy. The grant program seeks to build relationships with nonprofit organizations and engages employees in learning about service opportunities in their communities in the Greater Lowell area.