Middlesex Savings Awards Scholarship, Grant to Local Recipients

The Middlesex Savings Charitable Foundation has recently awarded a local student with a $1,000 scholarship and a local organization with an $11,000 grant.

Wayland High School graduate Natalie Barone is one of 30 students awarded $1,000 college scholarships by the Middlesex Savings Charitable Foundation, which has distributed nearly $300,000 in scholarships since the program was established in 2000.

Barone has plans to attend Salve Regina University in Newport, R.I., in the fall, according to a press release from Middlesex Savings Charitable Foundation.

Thirty public and vocational high schools in the area nominated students for scholarships based on criteria including academic merit, financial need, community service and personal improvement.

In a separate press release, the Neighbor Brigade announced it had received an $11,000 grant from MSCF.

“We couldn’t be more thrilled to be the recipient of this grant from the Middlesex Savings Charitable Foundation,” said Pam Washek, Neighbor Brigade’s co-founder and executive director. “The Foundation’s mission is in complete alignment with what we’re trying to accomplish, which is to be there with critically-needed support and services for our communities by helping neighbors in crisis.”

Neighbor Brigade was established in 2010 "to create and maintain volunteer networks that support neighbors in crisis due to an acute illness, sudden tragedy, debilitating/late stage chronic disease or terminal illness." The group started in Wayland and has since spread to 26 communities and more than 3,000 volunteers.

“Middlesex Savings Charitable Foundation is committed to helping the communities we serve,” said Dana Neshe, president of the Middlesex Savings Charitable Foundation, in the press release. “Neighbor Brigade’s mission of bringing communities together when its members are experiencing a hardship is consistent with our beliefs.  We look forward to watching this important organization grow and thrive.”