House of Bread’s Education Program Receives “Lillian Fund” Grant from Jewish Community Foundation

House of Bread Co-Director Beth Boyle (far left) and Director of Development Michelle Murphy (far right), accept the Lillian Fund grant award from Jewish Community Foundation representatives Corey Glider, Lillian Fund Co-Chair; Carly Norman, former Development Officer; Kathryn Gonnerman, President and CEO; and Debbie Mehlman, Lillian Fund Co-Chair.

The House of Bread has received a $5,000 grant from the Lillian Fund, the highly respected, 27-year-old giving circle at the Jewish Community Foundation of Greater Hartford.

The grant will support the “Learning Together” program at HOB’s Education Center on Maple Avenue in Hartford. In this program, women and children from Hartford’s immigrant community learn English language skills, literacy, and techniques for adapting to their new lives in the United States.

“We were thrilled when we got word of this grant award,” said House of Bread Co-Director Beth Boyle. “The women in our Learning Together program often share that our classes make them, and their children, feel they are part of a community where they are welcome and safe in Hartford. This grant helps us to cover the expenses of this critically important program.”

The Lillian Fund also awarded a grant of $10,000 to the Shiloh Israel Children’s Fund, which provides trauma therapy to high-risk Israeli children who have been deeply affected by the psychological impact of the ongoing war.

“The Lillian Fund invites women to not only be generous, but to decide together how they want to solve challenges and create the world we want to see,” said Kathryn Gonnerman, President and CEO of the Jewish Community Foundation. “These grants will provide two nonprofit recipients with the funding to tackle tremendous needs and deliver hope to women and children.”

The House of Bread, founded in 1980 by Sister Theresa Fonti, CSJ and Sister Maureen Faenza, CSJ, provides food, shelter, and education with compassion, dignity, and respect to more than 1,000 people per day through eight different programs in four different buildings across Hartford.