GRANTS
The Parmenter Foundation provides support for nonprofit organizations, serving MetroWest families, that offer innovative and compassionate programs in the areas of hospice care and bereavement.
2026 Grantees
We are proud to announce our 2026 funding for 23 outstanding programs at amazing nonprofit organizations, for a total of more than $400,000 in grant awards. These programs will provide compassionate end-of-life and bereavement support for MetroWest children, families and caregivers in need.
Current Grantee Programs
Learn more about our amazing grantee organizations!
Behavioral Health Partners of MetroWest
About:Behavioral Health Partners of MetroWest provides a referral line that is a centralized point of entry for coordination of services including counseling, housing, food, and employment for MetroWest families struggling with mental health issues, including coping with grief.
Our grant provides: Funds to staff a tri-lingual care coordinator position for the referral line to help those in need of behavioral health, social service assistance and grief support get connected to partner agencies and/or other resources.
Ben Speaks
About: Ben Speaks provides positive channels of expression and empowerment for a whole person approach to wellness through clinical and holistic resources and education.
Our grant provides: Funding for the Grief Recovery for Mothers program, providing strategies and support, including courses and wellness activities, for parents who have lost a child.
Boston Children’s Hospital
About: Boston Children’s Hospital is dedicated to improving and advancing the health and well-being of children around the world through its life-changing work in clinical care, biomedical research, medical education and community engagement.
Our grant provides: Funding for a bereavement program that provides individualized resources and grief support, including groups, workshops, and events, aimed to help parents and siblings of pediatric patients who have passed navigate their grief.
Camp Casco
About: Camp Casco creates a space for kids who have been affected by cancer to reclaim their childhoods- to laugh and play.
Our grant provides: Funding for a sibling camp program where children can relate to each other about the struggles of watching a sibling grapple with childhood cancer or the grief of losing a sibling to cancer, providing a sense of normalcy and belonging.
Camp Erin® Boston
About: Camp Erin® Boston is a free bereavement camp for youth who are grieving the death of a significant person in their lives. Children and teens ages 6 to 17 receive a camp experience, led by bereavement professionals and caring volunteers, that combines grief education and emotional support with fun, traditional camp activities.
Our grant provides: Funding for a weekend bereavement camp for children and teens.
Care Dimensions
About: As a nonprofit, community-based leader in advanced illness care, Care Dimensions provides comprehensive hospice, palliative care and grief support in more than 100 communities in MA. For more than 40 years, Care Dimensions has cared for patients wherever they live – in their homes, in skilled nursing facilities and assisted living communities, in hospitals, or at its two inpatient hospice facilities.
Our grant provides: Funding for a death doula pilot program providing a subset of volunteers to deliver supplemental, holistic, non-medical support to hospice patients and their families to help them face their loss with comfort, resolution and peace; and continued funding for Pocket Talkers handheld devices that amplify sounds and voices for hospice patients.
The Children’s Room
About: The Children’s Room creates safe, supportive communities so that no child, teen, or family has to grieve alone.
Our grant provides: Funding for peer-based grief support programs that create a sense of safety, connection, and belonging for young people who are grieving.
Compassionate Care ALS
About: A nonprofit organization with a mission to support people diagnosed with ALS, their families, healthcare providers, and communities as they navigate the complexities, both physical and emotional, associated with the disease.
Our grant provides: Funding to support the Honey Grief Retreat blending community connection, individual reflection, and mindfulness to support the full individual as they work through the loss of a loved one from ALS.
Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine at Tufts University
About: Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine at Tufts University is committed to serving the veterinary needs of MA and New England through education, research, clinical care, and service to the community.
Our grant provides: Funding for supplies such as books, stickers and toys to comfort children who have experienced the loss of a beloved pet.
E-Motion
About: E-Motion is committed to transforming the way the world shows up for each other through grief and loss, so no one grieves alone. We do this through the power of movement, community, and ritual to enhance coping and resiliency.
Our grant provides: Funding for the Organizational Leader Track pilot, a new program that creates the systems and supports needed to train staff at trusted MetroWest community organizations to expand the reach of grief-informed care into everyday community spaces where people live, play, work, and gather.
Empowering Grieving Children
About: Empower’s mission is to support, connect and empower children and young adults up through age 24 who have experienced the death of a parent. Our support comes in the form of mentorship and events.
Our grant provides: Funding for events and a one-on-one mentoring program for children and young adults who have lost a parent. Guided by the premise that children learn best from someone ahead of them on their journey, Mentors help teach, “loss is survivable.”
Empty Arms Bereavement Support
About: Supporting individuals and families in MA and nationwide whose babies have died through miscarriage, stillbirth, early infant death, or termination for medical reasons.
Our grant provides: Funding for the Compassionate Perinatal Loss Care for Metrowest Families initiative, ensuring families who experience pregnancy or infant loss are met with compassion, dignity, and ongoing community support at no cost.
Experience Camps
About: A national, no-cost program for grieving children who have experienced the death of a parent, sibling or primary caregiver. Our one-week, overnight summer grief camps, year-round programs, and content help to reframe the experience of grief, and empower kids with the necessary coping skills to move forward with their lives.
Our grant provides: Funding for MetroWest children who have lost a loved one to attend a one-week overnight summer camp aimed at reframing the experience of grief and empowering kids with the coping skills they need. This camp provides a safe place where kids can laugh, cry, play, and remember the person who died.
Good Shepherd Community
About: Good Shepherd Community Care delivers high quality hospice and palliative care, support and education for those experiencing or anticipating serious illness and loss.
Our grant provides: Funding to subsidize a hospice bed at the Miriam Boyd Parlin Hospice Residence.
HEARTplay
About: HEARTplay serves children, teens and young adults of all abilities who are coping with the life-limiting illness or death of an important person in their lives.
Our grant provides: Funding to ensure programs are equitable, inclusive and accessible, and include offerings in Spanish and Portuguese, expanding access to grief support, so that no child grieves alone.
Jeff’s Place
About: Jeff’s Place provides free grief support groups for families who have experienced the death of a parent or sibling. It serves children ages three to 18, along with their caregivers, as well as young adults aged 18 to 25. Jeff’s Place’s vision is that no one grieves alone.
Our grant provides: Funding for the Substance Use Loss (SUL) Support Groups to support MetroWest children and adults impacted by the loss of a loved one due to substance use, with access to trauma-informed support groups and pro-bono counseling.
JFS of Metrowest
About: Jewish Family Service of Metrowest (JFS) provides vital social, health, and community services to alleviate suffering, enhance lives, and support people in need.
Our grant provides: Funding for the Advanced Care Planning Pilot Initiative that will provide older adults and their families with information, tools, and supportive dialogue to navigate the sensitive but essential process of planning for advanced treatment and end-of-life care.
MCM Memorial Foundation
About: The MCM Memorial Foundation supports families who have lost a child to enable them to afford funeral, memorial and non-medical end of life expenses. The MCM Fund hopes to help families with children in hospice, or immediately after they have lost a child, to enable and financially support their non-medical end-of-life decisions.
Our grant provides: Funding to cover the costs of end-of-life support and funerals for families that are not able to afford these essential services.
Robert’s Program at BCH
About: A clinical service offered to families who have lost a child suddenly and unexpectedly, without apparent cause. Our efforts help a family understand the reasons for their child’s death, while supporting them through a very difficult time.
Our grant provides: Funding for the Sudden Unexplained Death Program Continuing Bonds & Resilience Series. This specialized modal addresses the profound isolation and complex grief experienced by MetroWest families who have experienced sudden, unexplained loss of a child by providing in-person, experiential connection and support.
Runway for Recovery
About: Runway for Recovery provides families with a continuum of support along their journey with breast cancer. They celebrate survivors, honor legacies and fund families who have experienced loss.
Our grant provides: Funding for the Family Grants program that supports mothers with breast cancer and their families, helping to alleviate their stress, so they can focus on real life.
Safe Coalition
About: SAFE is a nonprofit dedicated to compassionate, judgment-free support for individuals impacted by substance use, mental health challenges, and related concerns.
Our Grant Provides: Funding for the Grief Support Program providing wrap around services for those who have experienced a death loss, including complicated grief from substance use and suicide loss. Both clinical and peer-based support are provided as well through a weekly support group and 1-on-1 grief counseling.
Samaritans
About: Samaritans’ mission is to reduce the incidence of suicide by alleviating despair, isolation, distress and suicidal feelings among individuals in our community, 24 hours a day; to educate the public about suicide prevention; to help those who have lost a loved one to suicide; and to reduce the stigma associated with suicide.
Our Grant Provides: Funding for suicide grief support services in MetroWest communities, including a Long Term Loss Survivors Summit; Cooking thru Grief series; and a Youth Loss Survivor Group.
Wildflower
About: Wildflower, Inc. provides sustained, long-term support for children who have lost a parent, as well as their families, for as many years as they need help.
Our grant provides: The gifts of camp, enriching experiences, and consistent, long-term support to help families strengthen their resilience and create positive opportunities for the future.
Past Parmenter Grantees
- Courageous Parents Network: https://courageousparentsnetwork.org/
- Love Bus: lovebus.org
- Massachusetts Gen for Children: https://www.massgeneral.org/children
- MetroWest Free Medical Program: https://
metrowestfreemedicalprogram. org/ - Veterinary Chaplaincy Service: https://veterinarychaplaincy.com/
- Virginia Thurston Healing Garden: https://healinggardensupport.org/
- Why Me: https://whyme.org/
Become a Parmenter Grantee
The Parmenter Foundation supports nonprofit organizations that provide high-quality, innovative hospice and palliative care as well as family bereavement programs serving MetroWest children, adults and caregivers. We exclusively fund high quality programs that have meaningful impact for our neighbors who are navigating the challenging end-of-life and/or grief challenges.