Garrett-Larsen
Social Justice Fund
How to honor a beloved pastor?
Set up a fund in her honor! When Rev. Dawn Garrett-Larsen concluded her work in Nelson in 2019, after 19 years as our pastor, we realized that the best way to honor her ministry was to carry it forward. We raised $8,000 and set up the Garrett-Larsen Social Justice Fund, with the intention of giving away all of the money within five years. We want to make the world a more just and kind place for all. Period.
We hope that Dawn’s legacy as it is written in the history of the Nelson Congregational Church will be that we as a congregation and as a community progressed in our understanding of what it means to be a good neighbor. That is the heart of social justice.
Steering Committee, Garrett-Larsen Social Justice Fund: Steve Cady, Avery Hurley, Susan Peery, Betsy Street, Judy Waterston, Deanna Zilske, Rev. Eliot Fay
Who may apply for a grant.
Any individual or nonprofit group with a strong tie to the Monadnock region is invited to apply in writing.
The social justice project or work being proposed may be local, national, or international. Social justice is understood to include environmental justice.
January 2024 update: we have now expended the initial fund in its entirety and are exploring options for the future. Stay tuned.
2023 grant awards
We awarded two grants totalling $2,250 in 2023, our fourth year.
$1,250 was given to the Fall Mountain Weekend Food Backpack Program, a community effort that provides free breakfasts, main meals, and snacks on weekends and school vacation weeks to many students in the towns served by the Fall Mountain Regional School District. As the grant application noted, “The teachers, nurses, and staff at Fall Mountain are trained to recognize student hunger when they see it. Hopefully this program … will reduce the number of students that we see coming to school hungry.”
$1,000 went to Feeding Tiny Tummies, a Keene-based, all-volunteer nonprofit that provides fresh produce, bread, milk, and nonperishables to schools, day cares, and individuals in the Monadnock region. Founded in 2017, the organization has grown to include a resource center for job seekers, seniors, and other groups.
2022 grant awards
We awarded three grants totaling $3,000 in 2022, our third year.
$2,000 to Project Home, a grassroots organization that brings asylum-seeking families and individuals to our communities and places them in host homes. Project Home volunteers offer legal, medical, and educational support to their guests. People often arrive with little more than the clothes on their backs, but are embraced and befriended while they gain legal status.
$500 to Hundred Nights, to support the construction of their new facility on Water Street in Keene. Hundred Nights offers shelter and resources to people in our region who are at risk of or experiencing homelessness.
$500 to Linda’s Closet, an all-volunteer organization in Keene that assists women in achieving life and career goals by providing work-appropriate clothing with the assistance of volunteer consultants. Linda’s Closet also responds to emergencies in our community, such as house fires, and to refugees in need of clothing, all at no cost to the recipients.
2021 grant awards
Three grants totaling $2000 were made in our second year, 2021.
$1,000 to Monadnock Quaker Meeting in Jaffrey, to help build a short-term emergency shelter within their Meetinghouse.
$500 to MATS (Monadnock Area Transitional Shelter) for its Hope Fund, which offers reliable transportation (including car repairs, vehicle registration, and gas) for guests who are experiencing homelessness, to help them toward independence.
$500 to the Sacred Ally Quilt Ministry for their work in racial justice. Our former interim pastor, Rev. Chris Owen, is creating a documentary film about this project, which will premier in New York City in May of 2022.
2020 grant awards
Two grants totaling $1800 were made in 2020, the first year.
The largest grant ($1500) was given to Project Home, a Keene nonprofit that supports asylum seekers while they are living here and going through the legal process. Our grant helped pay for a driver’s education course for a young woman from Central America who needed the course in order to get her driver’s license. (She passed!)
A second grant of $300 went to The Daily Good, which supports newcomers and students in Keene to help provide food security and make them welcome.