Mary’s Place By Sea Receives Largest Grant Since Inception
Leonard B. Kahn Foundation $150K grant will fund ADA elevator and oncology massage program
Mary’s Place by the Sea has received the largest funding pledge since its inception in 2009, officials announced Friday.
The funding is in the amounts of $100,000 and $50,000 grants from the Leonard B. Kahn Foundation.
“We are grateful beyond words to the Leonard B. Kahn Foundation for their belief and support of our mission,” said President and Co-Founder Michele Gannon [at right].
Kahn, a cattle dealer and philanthropist, died in December 2014. Foundation trustee Anthony Salerno, a CPA from Avon-by the Sea, was instrumental in identifying Mary’s Place and supporting our application for these funds, a Mary’s Place spokesperson said.
“While Mr. Kahn supported some big names, he also wanted local charities to benefit,” Salerno said via written statement.
Grants to 32 organizations totaling $4,215,000 were approved on April 5, including the $150,000 appropriation to Mary’s Place, Salerno said.
“On behalf of the women with cancer who come to Mary’s Place by the Sea, it is an honor to be recognized by the Leonard Kahn Foundation,” Director of Development Felicia Levine said. “This award is the largest single gift we have received to date and will be used to directly support our guests,”
The grants will support Mary’s Place Oncology Massage Program, as well as its ADA compliant elevator at the new residence, located at 22 Main Ave.
Mary’s Place by the Sea is a nonprofit safe haven for women with diagnosed with cancer. They offer gratis stays away from medical treatments and daily responsibilities, with holistic, integrative services like the oncology massages as well as yoga, nutrition education, meditation, counseling, and expressive writing.
When Mary’s Place by the Sea first opened in 2009, the organization operated out of two rooms at a bed and breakfast in Ocean Grove. The demand for services quickly required Mary’s Place by the Sea to rent a four-bedroom home just two years later. The founders saw the difficulty that guests with mobility issues were having climbing the steps to get into the home, as well as navigating the stairs to the bedrooms. That’s when they set out on a fundraising campaign to construct the new, state-of-the-art, ten-bedroom home on Main Street. The founders and builders worked together to make the new home completely handicap and wheelchair accessible.
The new elevator aids the transport of our guests to each floor, throughout the three-story building, a spokesperson said. The $100,000 grant from the Kahn foundation has made this possible.
Below is an 8 minute video on Mary’s Place services:
[Photos courtesy of Mary’s Place, Featured photo includes David Armstrong, Chairman, Mary’s Place Board of Trustees; Felicia Salvacion Levine, Director of Development; Michele Gannon, President; Kathy Clayton, Principal of Spire Group; Maria Mckeon, Vice President; Malin Bergström Mumford, House Manager]
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