Planning for a new $86.7 million Washington Square cultural center recently got a boost, along with five other area nonprofits, with the distribution of annual grants by AHEPA-Haverhill Foundation.
During a recent ceremony, Weitzman Initiative for the Arts and Industry, received $1,000 towards the proposal that could include an eight-story shoe museum; café; two-story, 6,000-square-foot theater; museum store; restaurant; and other elements adjacent to the post office. Plans were first announced just before the coronavirus pandemic struck. Designer shoe icon Stuart Weitzman was expected to donate his own historic footwear collection. When it was placed on display in New York in 2018, the collection featured a pair of shoes outlined in diamonds worth a million dollars.
Michael Drossos, who worked with Weitzman to craft the concept, was on hand to accept the donation from AHEPA Foundation Vice President Gary Vatoseow, Treasurer James Antonopoulos and Director E. Philip Brown.
Others awarded grants were Merrimac Heights Academy, Merrimac, which helps provide children with disabilities with a variety of skills, accepted by Executive Director Lygia Soares, $500; Gale Park Neighborhood Association, Haverhill, maintaining the female veteran’s monument in Haverhill, accepted by Kathy Bresnahan and Kathy Fitts, $500; WHAV, continuing to report the news and other vital information to Greater Haverhill, accepted by Win Damon, $500; NECC Foundation, providing students with financial assistance as they work through college, accepted by Lori Smerdon, $500; and L’Arche Boston North, providing assistance to those with disabilities in and around Haverhill, accepted by Executive Director Jennifer Matthews, $500.
AHEPA officials said the six entities were selected by the foundation board of directors after review of letters submitted, expressing the needs of each particular organization. Since 1999, the AHEPA-Haverhill Foundation, an entity of the local fraternal chapter of the AHEPA, has given back to the Greater Haverhill community money totaling approximately $49,500.
Request letters for grants are accepted yearly between Nov. 1 and March 1, and must be submitted by U.S. Mail only to AHEPA-Haverhill Foundation Inc., 40 Buttonwoods Ave., third floor, Haverhill, MA 01830
Since 2004, and as of 2021, the AHEPA Acropolis Chapter 39 itself, has awarded a total of $66,200 in scholarships.