Healthy Waltham Named Award Finalist

WALTHAM, MA — A Waltham nonprofit is among six finalists up for the 2021 The Massachusetts Nonprofit Network Nonprofit Excellence Award for Small Nonprofits.

The winners for the small nonprofit category — along with five other categories —will be announced at a virtual awards ceremony June 23.

"We are excited to recognize Healthy Waltham for their invaluable contributions to the commonwealth," said The Massachusetts Nonprofit Network CEO Jim Klocke in a statement. "We look forward to recognizing them and the other Excellence Award finalists and announcing the six winners on June 23."

The awards will be presented to one finalist in the categories of advocacy, innovation, leadership, small nonprofit, young professional and resilience. This year, an independent panel of judges reviewed more than 180 nominations. The 29 finalists range from large innovative social enterprises to a small rural family support group and represent different regions of Massachusetts.

The Small Nonprofit Excellence Award recognizes a nonprofit organization with an annual budget of $250,000 or less, and still make major contributions to the population it serves, according to the Massachusetts Nonprofit Network.

Healthy Waltham, which was founded in 2003, is behind several city programs that aim to increase healthy behavior and combat chronic diseases. Healthy Waltham’s programs promote healthy eating, an active lifestyle and mental wellness and include nutrition education in public schools, food delivery services to low-income seniors and food pantries to combat hunger.

Pre-COVID-19, Healthy Waltham held monthly food pantries that served 400 families. When the pandemic hit, the organization's executive director Myriam Michel dug in and the nonprofit established an emergency response.

Healthy Waltham established emergency pantries, quadrupled its offerings with weekly pantries serving up to 900 families per pantry. Since April, 17,000 families, including repeat clients, have received a total of 475,000 pounds of food, according to the organization.

Healthy Waltham is also behind homebound deliveries for low-income seniors and has created pop-up micro pantries in areas hardest hit by the pandemic. These serve 150-200 families per pantry.