My Brother’s Keeper
Over 36 years of service, My Brother’s Keeper has completed more than 225,000 deliveries
and engaged over 5,000 volunteers annually, contributing approximately 45,000 hours of service
Each year, their Christmas Assistance Program serves over 3,000 families,
providing gifts to more than 13,000 parents and children
In 1988, My Brother’s Keeper was humbly founded by Jim and Terry Orcutt in Taunton. They began collecting clothes for families in need and while visiting area shelters, they learned a critical need existed for furniture. No local charity provided essential household items for people leaving shelters. So they borrowed roof racks for their old Chevy Cavalier and on a ‘shoestring’ budget, they began serving families from the basement of their home. To help pay for the extra gas, family and friends collected soda cans and bottles, the very first fundraising effort for My Brother’s Keeper.
Over the next thirty years Jim, Terry, and thousands of volunteers worked from a barn and a storage locker facility, a 3-car garage in Brockton, a warehouse, until finally building a new facility adjacent to Stonehill College in Easton in 2002. Then in 2013, expansion to support families in need in the South Coast led to a new 2 facilities in Dartmouth.
Today, My Brother’s Keeper operates two core programs: furniture donations and delivery to families who cannot afford it and the Christmas program, which delivers Christmas presents to families in need. The furniture program operates year-round, and the Christmas program operates in the fall through Christmas with several months of careful, joyful preparation by getting donations and matching gifts with specific requests from the families in need.
Since Partnering with The Lynch Foundation
The Lynch Foundation is proud to have supported My Brother’s Keeper for more than a decade. The organization’s alignment on founded and rooted in volunteering and community as a key to a successful organization has led to long-term partnership and annual services days for trustees and staff.
The Foundation’s sustained support has ensured:
That 5,000 volunteers and 15 employees work together to make 18,500 deliveries each year. Since their founding, they have made more than 190,000 total deliveries to people in need across eastern Massachusetts.
Their commitment to be outstanding stewards. 94% of every dollar going to program services. As a matter of policy, they do not accumulate funds. They believe donations should pass through them, not remain with them.
With their 100+ school partnerships and personal interaction and proximity with those they serve, My Brothers’ Keeper continues to provide a crucial service; and investing in community empathy.
