President Lee Mapletoft and executive director Sharon Martens of Household Goods Recycling Inc. of Acton were on hand to receive a $15,000 grant at a recent reception for local nonprofit organizations hosted by Middlesex Savings Charitable Foundation. Mapletoft addressed the gathering, expressing his thanks to the foundation and describing HGRM’s work on behalf of families in need of household goods and other basic necessities.

The foundation completed its eleventh year of community-based philanthropy with a second round of nine grants totaling $109,300. Representatives of 20 organizations that received funding in 2011 attended the meeting at Morse Institute Library in Natick on Nov. 8. Middlesex Savings Bank CEO John Heerwagen and Charitable Foundation President Dana Neshe, thanked attendees for their work in improving the lives of individuals and families of MetroWest.

Over the course of 2011, the foundation made 60 grants totaling $233,300. The foundation also addressed the persistent need for basic necessities with an additional $29,000 in direct contributions to local food pantries, and made scholarship grants totaling $36,000 to 32 college-bound students.  Since its establishment in June of 2000, the foundation has contributed over $2 million to 145 non-profit organizations that deliver a variety of community services.

Middlesex Savings Charitable Foundation Grant Recipients, November 2011:

• Employment Options, Inc. , Marlborough:

$10,000 for Furnishing Options program, which provides furniture and household goods to those making the transition to stable housing.

• Framingham Adult ESL Plus:

$5,000 to support provision of a two-semester, intermediate English class for 19 students.

• Hockomock YMCA; Franklin, Foxboro, Mansfield, and North Attleborough:

$15,000 to support the Y’s Healthy Futures Lunch and Learns, a series of seminars to help individuals and families make better nutritional choices.

• Household Goods Recycling of Massachusetts, Acton:

$15,000 for operating support of HGRM’s collection and distribution of gently used household goods to individuals and families in need.

• Jewish Family Services of Metrowest, Framingham:

$15,000 for the “Reducing Achievement Gaps” program, comprising hunger relief and academic support, at the Woodrow Wilson School in Framingham.

• Medway Community Farm, Inc., Medway:

$9,800 for the summer 2012 Farmer’s Apprentice Program that will instruct interns in the operation of an organic farm and will assist in development of additional programming.

• Metrowest YMCA, Framingham and Hopkinton:

$15,000 to support the High Flight Program, which provides leadership, counseling, and support services to youths aged 12-17.

• Minuteman Senior Services, Burlington

$15,000 to support the Meals-on-Wheels program for low-income senior citizens

• Open Table, Maynard:

$9,500 for purchase of increased amounts of fresh food in support of Open Table’s mission of addressing hunger and social isolation in the community.