Community Servings was one of 10 programs to receive a COVID-19 Relief Fund Grant from Alkermes.
The special grant is focused on addressing pandemic-related needs of people living with addiction, serious mental illness, or cancer. More than 350 applications were submitted in May 2020 for this highly competitive program.
Collectively, the programs receiving grants reach across Alkermes’ therapeutic focus areas and seek to serve populations that span ethnic, socio-economic, gender, and age spectrums, utilizing a variety of approaches targeted to the acute challenges presented by COVID-19, including: peer-support programs; innovative technologies, formats and channels to expand access to and reach of essential nonprofit programming; creative approaches to bolster crisis response; and provision of essentials such as food, housing, and career support. Alkermes is a biopharmaceutical company.
“As stay-at-home orders took effect across the U.S., we reached out to understand how efforts to stem the spread of COVID-19 were impacting people living with addiction, serious mental illness, or cancer,” said Richard Pops, Chief Executive Officer of Alkermes. “We learned that the fear, social isolation, and economic hardship impacting so many has led to even greater challenges for these communities. We remain steadfast in our commitment to help address their unique and complex needs and will continue to evolve our longstanding efforts to provide meaningful and lasting support for these patient populations.”
Community Servings will be increasing kitchen/delivery capacity and providing 75,000 medically-tailored meals to 340 clients and their families affected by cancer throughout Massachusetts.
Grant recipients were selected based on pre-determined decision criteria including: a focus on people living with mental illness, substance use disorders, or cancer; clearly defined needs, objectives, activity format, mode of delivery, and intended audience; relevance to the COVID-19 pandemic; ability to implement in a rapid time frame and sustainability of the impact beyond the immediate crisis; the organization’s ability to execute the proposed program; and uniqueness and creativity of the proposed program/solution.
Since 2016, the Alkermes Inspiration Grants program has awarded more than $3 million in funding to innovative programs that support the comprehensive needs of those most impacted by serious diseases in our areas of focus. Due to the urgent and unexpected needs created by the COVID-19 pandemic, the company revamped its Alkermes Inspiration Grants program for 2020 to provide grants to assist nonprofit organizations in their work to urgently address pandemic-related needs for people living with addiction, serious mental illness, or cancer. .
About Alkermes plc
Alkermes plc is a fully integrated, global biopharmaceutical company developing innovative medicines in the fields of neuroscience and oncology. The company has a portfolio of proprietary commercial products focused on addiction and schizophrenia, and a pipeline of product candidates in development for schizophrenia, bipolar I disorder, neurodegenerative disorders, and cancer. Headquartered in Dublin, Ireland, Alkermes plc has an R&D center in Waltham, Massachusetts; a research and manufacturing facility in Athlone, Ireland; and a manufacturing facility in Wilmington, Ohio. For more information, please visit Alkermes’ website at www.alkermes.com.
ALKERMES INSPIRATION GRANTS is a registered service mark of Alkermes, Inc.
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