‘Tis the season for giving back!

Boys & Girls Clubs of Dorchester

Boys & Girls Clubs of Dorchester is dedicated to making a positive impact on youth and families in our community. Inside our three clubhouses, we are a place for Dorchester’s young people to learn, explore talents, play and make friends. Today, as always, our members have access to supportive activities for just $5 a year. Boys & Girls Club of Dorchester serves over 4,000 children between the ages of two months and 18 years each year. During the school year, we serve approximately 250 meals every weekday. For more information: https://www.bgcdorchester.org/

Leahy Holloran Community Center

The Leahy-Holloran Community Center has been serving the Dorchester Community since October 1973. Serving pre-Schoolers, children, teens, adults and the elderly, the center offers children’s after school activities, adult classes and a teen center. Some of the programs currently available are swimming lessons for adults and children, children’s drawing classes, adult computer classes, sewing lessons, line dancing, water aerobics, adult and children ceramic classes. For more information email [email protected]

Boston Firefighter Relief Fund

A cause near and dear to our hearts! We are so thankful for the men and women of the Boston Fire Department who put their lives on the line every day help keep us safe. Please consider donating on this #GivingTuesday and help Boston Fire Relief Fund #PutOutCancer in the Boston Fire Department by visiting here.

Martin Richard Foundation

Founded in 2014, the Martin W. Richard Charitable Foundation Inc. is a 501(c)(3) charitable foundation formed by the parents of eight-year-old Martin Richard, who was killed in the bombing at the Boston Marathon on April 15, 2013.  In the days after his death, a photo of Martin holding a  handmade poster that read “No more hurting people. Peace” was shared over the Internet.   Martin’s view of peace went well beyond simply wanting to prevent violence. To Martin, peace meant togetherness, teamwork, fairness, sportsmanship, inclusion, and kindness.  The Martin Richard Foundation provides opportunities for individuals and communities to live out the values of peace, justice and kindness.  To learn more or to make a donation visit here.

Support The Murphy School

The Mission: The Mighty Murphy School promotes a safe, respectful community with rigorous academic standards where diversity, creativity and integrity are the foundations for lifelong learning. To further this mission we aim to give all our students from K-8 a strong, well-rounded program complete with increased learning and enrichment opportunities. Our partnerships not only support our students’ academic goals, but more importantly, support their social emotional growth and learning. Our partnerships allow us to provide opportunities that enrich our students’ lives and open up the doors of possibilities for a successful future, as lifelong learners. You can make a donation here! 

Dot Art

Founded in 1998, Dot Art has two art studios where we offer classes in painting, drawing, sculpture, mixed media and collage. We go where the kids are and we invite them to come to us too! We partner with several local schools and many non-profits in Dorchester to offer art education and opportunities for children to explore their creativity. Dot Art provides a safe, fun, welcoming community for our children to experiment. To make a donation visit here! 

Greater Boston Food Bank

You can help provide food and hope for struggling local families across Eastern MA. Make today about neighbors helping neighbors. Your gift will help provide 25,000 meals. A 501(c)3 nonprofit. Healthy food for kids. Improving nutrition. You can make a donation here. 

St. Mary’s Center

St. Mary’s Center for Women and Children offers innovative and family-centered programs for women and children who have experienced trauma and are living in poverty. Placing families at the center of our efforts, St. Mary’s Center works in partnership with young women, many of them mothers, to break the intergenerational cycle of poverty and achieve lasting, powerful change by building their emotional well-being, educational achievements and economic independence. Located in Uphams Corner, St. Mary’s Center supports 600 women and children annually with shelter, clinical and educational services, job training, employment placement, and search for affordable permanent housing. For more information, visit here! 

College Bound Dorchester – Uncornered

Like most urban cities, Boston has neighborhoods that are stuck in cycles of dysfunction that lead to a lack of opportunity. Each generation tends to mirror the previous, leaving communities and their residents impoverished for generations. Unfortunately, many efforts to mitigate this challenge do not result in community-wide change. At College Bound, they understand how vital it is to go beyond individuals to transform the entire community. They employ an intervention model designed to identify, engage and serve the most influential and disconnected young people in the community, whom they call “Core Influencers”. Many of these young people are gang-involved and drive the violence in the streets. Once the Core Influencers are on the path to success, they can serve as a constructive force within the community to drive positive change. In this way, they use a super-user strategy to break the dysfunctional cycles and create a college-bound culture in the neighborhoods they serve.  To volunteer or make a donation visit here! 

Cradles to Crayons

400,000 children in Massachusetts live in low-income or homeless situations. Let’s help them. At Cradles to Crayons, their entire organization is driven by a focused and all-important goal: to make life better for children in need. To make this happen, it takes a wide variety of individuals and groups coming together to make a difference in their local communities.  To learn more or to make a donation visit here! 

VietAID (Vietnamese American Initiative for Development)

The Vietnamese American Initiative for Development (VietAID) was founded in 1994 by community leaders and residents who believed that a community development corporation could provide comprehensive economic development programs and services to alleviate poverty and advance civic participation in the Fields Corner Vietnamese community of Dorchester. VietAID sits in the heart of a multicultural neighborhood and provides accessible, affordable services to the Fields Corner community. Some of our services include a preschool, after-school, summer camp, youth leadership program, first time home buyers courses. Originally founded by Vietnamese refugees and immigrants, VietAID was built with a vision to alleviate poverty and foster a strong community. Today, located in the Vietnamese American Community Center, VietAID continues to do so, offering services to a wide range of community members. Specifically for the Vietnamese diaspora in Dorchester, VietAID provides bilingual services (e.g., u Cơ Preschool) and opportunities to celebrate Vietnamese culture and tradition (e.g. Tết, the Vietnamese New Year celebration).  To learn more or to make a donation, visit here! 

Boston City Singers

As a nonprofit organization founded in 1995, Boston City Singers provides comprehensive, sequential music instruction to over 500 young people annually in the inner-city neighborhood locations where they live and attend school. These programs seek to make up for the lack of choral arts training provided during regular school hours, thereby enhancing each singer’s educational capabilities and experiences. Their mission is to provide the highest level of musical training and wide-ranging performance opportunities to young people ages 4-18, inspire personal development, celebrate diversity and foster goodwill. To make a donation or learn more, visit here! 

Commonwealth Kitchen

Commonwealth Kitchen is a collaborative community, providing shared kitchens combined with business assistance to help aspiring entrepreneurs build great food companies, create jobs, improve healthy food access, and strengthen our regional food economy.  You can learn more or make a donation here!