Lori Hoffman

Eliot Church has received an extra gift from Cummings Foundation beyond the $150,000 grant that has supported our Day Center over the past three years. This new funding is part of their MAD$ program, in which their own volunteer site visitors can nominate a program they have visited for additional support.

Cummings Foundation is giving us $50,000 for infrastructure improvements in our Day Center, although they also stated we may use the money for the Day Center in any way we wish.

Cummings Foundation Deputy Director Andrew Bishop wrote that the foundation “sees its role as supporting the real experts: organizations like the Day Center at Eliot Church. While we may help with the technical part — providing resources — only you and your colleagues can do the miraculous part: changing lives and strengthening the vibrancy of our communities. The Foundation and its site visitors are confident in your organization’s ability to deploy these supplemental resources for meaningful impact and are pleased to help accelerate your mission.”

Eliot Church is grateful for, and inspired by this support.

Eliot Church is grateful to the historic Christ Church United of Lowell for an exceedingly generous legacy gift to our Day Center. Christ Church United has closed after a long, rich history in Lowell. As part of their dissolution, they have selected 18 organizations to support, allowing the mission they care about to continue into the future. 

Some time in 2027, the financial people working for CCUL will create a donor-advised fund; each year, that fund will disburse money to Eliot Church to use exclusively for our Day Center — nearly enough to cover our entire Day Center budget. We may use the money to upgrade the facilities used by the Day Center and to pay staff, supplies, and utilities for the Day Center.

If we change our ministry focus from unhoused neighbors to another group of people in need, we can continue to receive this money. If we stop having a ministry to people in need at some future time, any remaining funds from CCUL will be divided among the other recipient organizations.

At a time when we were running out of options for grant support for the Day Center, God has blessed us, through Christ Church United, with this opportunity to continue serving our unhoused neighbors, focusing on our work without worrying about money for this program. 

While we will not worry about funding our Day Center in the coming years, we will continue to need the support of every church member and friend for our church itself — each person’s participation, prayers, talents, and tithes will be important to keep our church strong.