LYNN — Stop the Violence Lynn received its largest donation yet on Wednesday night, benefiting from the generosity of a local couple who wishes to remain anonymous.
The $20,000 donation was announced during the organization’s first in-person meeting since the COVID-19 pandemic began.
The gift will be enough to make up for the loss of funding the organization has experienced over the past year, as the pandemic forced its members to cancel their annual fundraisers and events, according to Ward 6 Councilor Fred Hogan, a co-founder of Stop the Violence, which was established in order to curb street violence.
The donors, a couple who graduated from Lynn English and were high school sweethearts, recently met with Hogan to extend their appreciation for all that he does for the community and express their interest in helping.
“This is huge. This is our biggest donation,” said Hogan.
With the pandemic halting many activities, Stop the Violence was unable to host fundraisers and events this year, including the annual Stop The Violence Lynn Peace Walk. The organization also hosts a yearly basketball and flag-football tournament that raises a great deal of monetary donations, but both were canceled because of COVID-19.
“We’ve been doing this for about six or seven years now and COVID-19 wiped out everything we did last year,” Hogan said. “Everything we do in our program is free. The water, shirts, and food are all donated. We work hard year-round and when something bad happens, it crushes all of us. We just want to help the kids.”
Hogan said the Stop the Violence Committee members were in shock and grateful for the sizable donation, noting that it had taken a financial burden off of their backs.
“This is huge,” said committee member Ebony White. “For what we try to do in the city to have the biggest impact, it always comes down to funds. I think this donation is going to allow us to be able to do a lot for our youth and offer a lot more opportunities and events.”
White said the committee will take the money and invest it directly into the community. She described it as a boost to help get them back on their feet after the financial and social struggle that accompanied the pandemic. She is eager to host in-person events again, even if it has to be in smaller numbers.
Stop the Violence brings people together to make the community safer by renovating local parks and partnering with organizations like Lynn Youth Street Outreach Advocacy (LYSOA) and the Lynn Police Department.
After almost eight years, those partnerships have worked to bridge communication between the people in the community and city personnel.
“The key, especially with me coming from the police department, is the bridge of communication,” said Lynn Police Sgt. Mike Gorman, the newest committee member. “This organization connects everybody and gives the ability for the dialogue to reach everyone. I think that’s a big part of what this organization does. It helps with the two-way communication in the community.”
Members of the committee agreed that Lynn is a city filled with so much good and they are working to increase and highlight that.
Hogan believes that it is important to see people from Lynn giving back to their city, enticing others to volunteer, donate or assist in any form.
“People that do good things for the city of Lynn might make other people want to do good things,” he said.
Getting kids off of the street and onto the right path, while spreading love and support is a goal for Stop the Violence. The generous donation will not only support that goal, but will provide more opportunities than originally planned.
The money will also contribute to college scholarships and assistance to families in need of food, toiletries and more.
Gorman said he was happy to see people giving back to the community they grew up in.
“Stop the Violence is one of those groups that everyone wants to partake in,” Gorman said. “Everyone wants violence to stop, so seeing people give back to this group that’s doing such an amazing job will hopefully continue to get more people involved to help.”
He said he would love to see the donation fund more programs to keep kids busy and on the right path.
“This can jump start programs and really make a huge dent in what we want to accomplish in the city,” said Gorman.
The couple that made the donation said that they are looking forward to watching the city grow and strengthen and are happy to support the city that raised them.
Allysha Dunnigan can be reached at [email protected]