(Medical staffers from Boston Healthcare for the Homeless, an organization that received a portion of Liberty Mutual’s $15 million grant. Source: Liberty Mutual.)
Liberty Mutual Insurance (Boston) has announced $10 million in additional “strategic” grants to help Boston-based organizations on the front lines of treating those who are ill and stopping the spread of COVID-19. The support also helps provide food and shelter to the most vulnerable populations that have been impacted by the pandemic, including low-income residents and the homeless. Liberty Mutual’s overall COVID-19 response includes measures to help community, policyholders and employees.
David Long, Chairman and CEO, Liberty Mutual.
The insurer launched a portfolio of community support initiatives in early March with an initial philanthropic pool of $4 million for its current 450 nonprofit partners. The original round of grants was designed to help current organizations address a wide range of immediate community needs such as providing students with computers for remote learning, setting up special training for community volunteers and helping fund increased facility cleaning, Liberty Mutual reports. The company followed that investment with $1 million in support of the Boston Resiliency Fund. With this latest $10 million pledge, Liberty Mutual has committed a total of $15 million to coronavirus relief efforts to date.
“During this unprecedented time, providing extra help for our longtime nonprofit partners is not only critical in overcoming this pandemic, it is core to our value of being there for people when they need us most,” comments David Long, Chairman and CEO, Liberty Mutual Insurance. “We are grateful for the nonprofit leaders and staff who are so selflessly caring for our most vulnerable populations.”
Curtailing the Current Emergency
“COVID-19 is disproportionately impacting communities in greatest need and our nonprofit partners are responding urgently and with extreme care,” comments Melissa MacDonnell, President, Liberty Mutual Foundation. “By offering this portfolio of funding, we are striving to help curtail the current emergency and support our partners as they continue to serve in varied ways.”
Melissa MacDonnell, President, Liberty Mutual Foundation.
Liberty Mutual will distribute the additional $10 million in grants to Boston-based nonprofits. The initial distribution of $5 million will include $1 million each to Boston Healthcare for the Homeless Program; Boston Medical Center; Pine Street Inn; and $500,000 each to Friends of Boston’s Homeless; St. Francis House; and Greater Boston Food Bank.
“COVID-19 is presenting such unprecedented challenges for all of us, especially as we strive to care for the most vulnerable among us,” comments Barry Bock, CEO, Boston Health Care for the Homeless Program. “I am so deeply grateful for this incredible support from Liberty Mutual—it is a true game-changer in these difficult times. It will allow us to be on the front lines during this crisis and meet our tangible needs, and at the same time is providing a tremendous morale boost to our health care teams who are working so bravely and tirelessly to care for people affected by this virus.”
Liberty Mutual reports that its strategic support of its nonprofit partners in their response to the coronavirus also includes donations to each of the over 800 nonprofits the company partners with during its employee volunteering program; employee online charitable donations that are supported further by company gifts; employee phone outreach to those in the community who are socially isolated; and redeployment of catering teams in the Boston and Dover, New Hampshire offices to prepare 100 lunches per day for homeless individuals in the area.
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