Caregiving Groups to Get $100 Million
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One of the largest philanthropy organizations in the nation said this week it will devote $100 million to faith-based volunteer groups that serve the elderly, disabled and chronically ill.
The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation hopes the money will boost the number of participants in its 19-year-old Faith in Action program, which gives grants to faith-based volunteer groups nationwide to serve those targeted populations.
“We’re hoping to triple the number of interfaith volunteer coalitions around the country to approximately 3,000,” said Paul Jellinek, vice president of the foundation. “Ultimately, our vision is that interfaith volunteer caregiving will be a part of the fabric of every community in this country.”
The Princeton, N.J.-based organization will disburse the funds over the next six years, but only to volunteer groups comprising people from a variety of faiths, Jellinek said. Caregiving is a service that can unite all religions, he said, since it “taps into a value that is common to all faith traditions and that is caring for one’s neighbor.”
In the past two decades, the foundation has distributed about $40 million to Faith in Action programs.
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