In March 2020, our world changed. Covid 19 was declared a world-wide pandemic. The James H. Cummings Foundation recognized that our approach to philanthropy and how to help the people of Buffalo and Hendersonville would have to change. We decided to provide financial support to the local efforts to support the organizations that were providing emergency support to meet the basic needs of their residents.
In WNY over $13.1M was raised to support over 180 organizations in providing food , healthcare, housing, mental health services, child care and transportation. Cummings also provided additional support for telehealth units to be used in the intensive care unit at a local hospital, support for virtual learning centers and infrastructure needs… GET THE FULL STORY >
Founded 20 years ago by the Women Religious Congregations of Western New York, Gerard Place, in response to the long-term effects of the pandemic, has opened a new permanent food pantry in the Bailey-Delevan neighborhood to meet the nutritional needs of people who reside in what is classified as a food desert. Gerard Place also partners with FeedMore for a monthly Food Express delivery and with Friends of the Night People to offer this very poor community a meal program (now take-out due to pandemic) twice per week. The increased need for the take-out meal program highlighted a critical need for food and other basic supplies for the families of this neighborhood.
The Food Pantry is located on the Gerard Place… GET THE FULL STORY >
The Hendersonville Family Medicine Residency Program has a mission to train residents to serve all people. They are supported by a consortium of Blue Ridge Health as the Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC) where they care for nearly 50% uninsured patients. Mountain Area Health Education Center that supports the educational work they do. After medical school, the residents train to be board certified Family Doctors over three years, and they work to place them in rural and underserved communities at graduation. They are always looking for ways to equip their learners in a way that positively impacts their patients. In the future family doctors will be in utilizing technology to help guide their medical decisions. Point of care ultrasound (POCUS),… GET THE FULL STORY >
What does it take to see the invisible? The answer is the Cummings Foundation and the Hauptman-Woodward Medical Research Institute, a more than 60-year-old Biomedical Research Organization in Buffalo. The Foundation’s support for a new cryo-electron microscope Center was timely and acted as a catalyst to a tapestry of donors to bring the Cryo-EM Center to life. Additional support from the Foundation made it feasible to upgrade to the latest detector for the first cryo-EM system greatly enhancing the capability and commitment of the Center to high-throughput services to the scientific community. While the new center will officially launch in February 2022, according to Edward Snell, PhD, President and CEO, “The Crystallization Center has now supported over 50 COVID -19… GET THE FULL STORY >