Invest in Others Names Six Recipients For Its Grants for Good Hunger Relief Program

ANDOVER, Mass., March 5, 2021 /PRNewswire/ — The Invest in Others Charitable Foundation (“Invest in Others”), a nonprofit dedicated to furthering and amplifying the charitable work of financial professionals and their firms, has awarded nearly $100,000 to six charities as part of its Grants for Good Hunger Relief program.

Nearly $100,000 to go to Nonprofits Working to End Food Insecurity

From feeding students in underserved school districts to delivering food to low-income seniors in subsidized housing, the six grant recipients represent a wide geographical swath—from the West Coast to the Northeast—and all are aimed at addressing food insecurity, a problem that has been on the rise since the onset of COVID-19 one year ago. The grant recipients include:

• Conscious Kitchen (a project of Turning Green—Sausalito, Calif.)
• Elmwood Residents Assistance Program (Elmwood Park, N.J.)
• I Believe in Me (Frederick, Md.)
• Knead Community Café (New Kensington, Penn.)
• Longfellow/Seward Healthy Seniors (Minneapolis, Minn.)
• Sunnyside Unified School District Foundation (Tucson, Ariz.)

“We hope these grants provide some measure of relief to food banks and charitable organizations struggling to meet heightened demand,” said Megan McAuley, Executive Director and President of the Invest in Others Charitable Foundation. “During this difficult time, it’s so important to come together, and we’re grateful to our sponsors and financial partners for being integral members of the community and supporting the most vulnerable among us.”

Sponsored in part by Vestmark, the Grants for Good Hunger relief program was adjudicated by a group of previous Invest in Others honorees and financial industry executives.

Taunya Villicana, co-founder and wealth manager at Affinity Wealth Management, submitted a grant application on behalf of the Sunnyside Unified School District, which supports the poorest school district in Tucson, home to predominately Latinx and Native American families. For Villicana, the mission to eradicate hunger is personal.

“I am a proud alumna of Sunnyside Unified School District,” she said. “I also experienced food insecurity growing up and know how it can interfere with learning and paying attention in class. More than 60% of the families we serve work in industries hardest hit by the economic devastation of the pandemic, including food service and hospitality. They also live in zip codes with some of the highest infection rates in Arizona. Thanks to Invest in Others we will be able to act quickly on behalf of our students and their families, with an equitable focus on students who have been hard to reach and left out of relief support.”

For financial professionals, giving back means being part of the fabric of their communities. Rachel Johnson, a senior client service associate at UBS Wealth Management, couldn’t turn a blind eye to the suffering she saw in the community where she’s lived for over 20 years.

“There is a need—we see it every day,” said Johnson, who applied for the grant on behalf of the Elmwood Park Residents Assistance Program, which will use the grant to purchase food and supermarket gift cards for seniors, low-income students and single parents in Elmwood Park, N.J. “With the pandemic, some food lines wrap around for miles. It’s heartbreaking to see, so I want to do anything I can to help, especially in the community where I live.”

To learn more about the six 2021 Grants for Good Hunger Relief recipients, visit: investinothers.org/grants.

About the Invest in Others Charitable Foundation
The inspiration for the Invest in Others Charitable Foundation came directly from the financial advisors who invest in others by giving back to their communities with overwhelming generosity and dedication. Since its founding in 2006, Invest in Others has amplified these efforts by providing a platform for advisors and other financial professionals to increase awareness, visibility, and funding to their favorite nonprofits. Over the past 15 years, IiO has given more than $3 million to 300+ charities across a variety of causes, including health and wellness, education and youth programs, arts and culture, hunger and poverty prevention, military and veterans and more. For more information, visit investinothers.org or follow Invest in Others on Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook.