Illustration provided by Nashua Soup Kitchen & Shelter

NASHUA — From its board members and executive director to staff and volunteers, the Nashua Soup Kitchen & Shelter is spending Thanksgiving week giving thanks after learning the growing agency is one of just 40 such agencies nationwide to receive a major grant from the Bezos Day 1 Families Fund.

At $1.25 million, the grant is the largest private gift NSKS has received in its entire history.

“The Bezos Day 1 Families Fund grant will be transformative for Nashua Soup Kitchen & Shelter,” executive director Michael Reinke said. The grant “comes at a particularly opportune moment,” he added, referring to the new, 20,000 square-foot emergency shelter that will be opening soon on Spring Street.

Launched in 2018 by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, the Day 1 Families Fund issues annual leadership awards to organizations working “on the front lines” to help families move from unsheltered homelessness and shelters to permanent housing, and to provide them with the services they require to achieve stability.

A full story will appear in The Sunday Telegraph.

Dean Shalhoup may be reached at 594-1256 or dshalhoup@nashuatelegraph.com.

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