Franklin County BBBS receives $500K from philanthropist
GREENFIELD – Philanthropist MacKenzie Scott, ex-wife of Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, donated $500,000 to Big Brothers Big Sisters of Franklin County.
The group's executive director said the gift was completely unsolicited, but the money will make a huge impact.
"This donation is transformational for our organization," said Jennifer Webster, executive director of Big Brothers Big Sisters of Franklin County. "It's the largest, by far, single donation that we've ever received. And while it's really exciting, we really wanted to make sure that we were really thoughtful and mindful about how we used this money. We wanted it to create impact. We wanted it to really change the amount of services that we are able to provide our community while also making sure that we have sustainability in those programs.
Webster said over the next five years, the organization plans to double the number of children it works with and add three new programs that will last well into the future.
"We really see this donation as an invitation for people to get involved in mentoring and to learn more about, actually, the impact that it can have. We know that, again, there is a mental health crisis across the nation for our youth and we know building resilience is going to be key to helping youth work through the trauma of the pandemic and the last several years of their lives and we know that long-lasting, professionally supported relationship building is a really good way to build resilience in youth," Webster said.