The Wellness Community closes after 15 years in Newton

The regional office of the Wellness Community closed its doors at the end of January, citing financial troubles. Headquartered in Newton, the nonprofit provided support for cancer patients in the Boston area for more than 15 years, offering educational workshops, exercise programs and other classes for those diagnosed with cancer and their loved ones. But the throes of the recession, combined with the challenge of securing adequate grants, forced the organization to suspend its services beginning Feb. 1.

“Our donations have been significantly down in the past year,” said Cori Di Donato, who serves as chairman of the Board of Directors. “Over the past few months, we have been really relying on individual donations, and it’s not possible for us to operate like that going forward.”

Since the Wellness Community opened its doors in 1993 in a third-floor space off Centre Street, they’ve had more than 75,000 visits and estimate that they see more than 1,000 individuals each year.

Members of the Board of Directors for the Wellness Community are determined to maintain some role in the lives of the people they served. “It’s really our intention to rebuild, reorganize and reopen,” Di Donato said. “But we are in desperate need of donations.”

-From:  http://www.wickedlocal.com/newton/news/x1596619904/The-Wellness-Community-closes-after-15-years-in-Newton Posted Feb 03, 2009.

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