Waltham staff, baby shower, 2025
This is a people business. With your help, we’ve launched several new programs – an emergency fund, an education fund, and a small loan program – to help staff feel more financially secure. Now we ask for your support for a new program called Financial Wellness at Work. Partnering with the United Way, this program will offer confidential, one-on-one coaching for staff to reduce credit card debt, pay off car loans, and do things to help their future selves like invest in education, a home, or retirement.
Who will this benefit? Here’s one example. Three months ago, an employee named Maria asked for a loan to help her with first, last, and deposit on a new apartment (Maria is not her real name). Last week, we promoted Maria to a supervisor role. She told me she was excited, nervous, and confident all at once. When she first came to the U.S., she did not speak English and found a job cleaning a restaurant and deli. While she cleaned, she listened, watched, and read all the recipes and labels she saw.
One day, an English-speaking customer asked the manager what “mole salami” was. The manager was not sure. Maria asked if she could speak. The manager said no but the owner, who was watching, invited her to go ahead. She described all the ingredients in mole salami, and what it would taste like. The customer bought a pound. Over time, Maria became a manager at the restaurant and then, thankfully for us, switched to the health care field.
We employ 200 staff today who are like Maria – striving, smart, caring people who sometimes need a helping hand and some good financial advice. We’d welcome your gift of $1,000, $500, $250, $100, or $50 to help bring this new program to all our staff for a year.
Please consider donating today. You can make an online gift by clicking here.
Thank you.