For children of low-income families, summertime can often be stressful and uncertain. While their more affluent peers head off to camp or participate in fun enrichment activities, low-income families struggle to keep their kids safe, engaged and on a path to success.

But Essex County Community Foundation’s Greater Lawrence Summer Fund is working to close those opportunity and achievement gaps for nearly 10,000 children Lawrence, Andover, North Andover and Methuen each year.  By supporting high quality summer programs that enhance social, academic and emotional abilities; discourage unhealthy behaviors; and reduce summer learning loss, the Greater Lawrence Summer Fund is making summer fun – and helping to change lives.

And this year, ECCF is pleased to announce that the Greater Lawrence Summer Fund has awarded $249,000 to 42 local nonprofits providing underserved kids with opportunities to learn and grow this summer – from writing workshops and job training to adventures out in nature and sports camps, and everything in between.

“Every summer, we visit these nonprofits and see their amazing programs in action,” said Carol Lavoie Schuster, ECCF’s vice president for grants and services. “The smiles on the kids’ faces as they learn to swim, ride a horse or experience what it means to be a leader say it all.”

Support from the Summer Fund is vital to the impact local nonprofits can make in the lives of youth, and they rely heavily on this funding to do good work, she added.

“Without the support of the Greater Lawrence Summer Fund, we’d have thousands of kids with nowhere to go and nothing to do,” said Lavoie Schuster. “Making summer memories and getting a chance to unlock their potential is something every kid deserves.”

For more information about the Greater Lawrence Summer Fund and to see a list of the 2019 grantees, visit www.eccf.org/glsf.