Fine arts, music & LGBT are beneficiaries

Published July 3, 2020

By JENNIFER GENTILE

MELROSE—The recent donation of $11,000 of streaming technology to Melrose High School is another generous gift from the Melrose Parks & Recreation Department and the Victoria McLaughlin Foundation, a long time champion of the Melrose public school’s arts programs. The foundation’s philanthropic efforts have had an indelible positive impact on the culture of Melrose schools. The non-profit was created by Melrose’s John and Patricia McLaughlin in honor of their daughter Victoria, who died suddenly at age three months in 2009.

The Mission of the Victoria McLaughlin Foundation is to support music, drama and fine arts in Melrose Public Schools, along with the Victoria McLaughlin Library at the middle school and the Melrose Learning Commons, plus after-school learning opportunities for Melrose middle school and high school students. The Foundation does not provide any funding for athletics. Since the Foundation was established in a decade ago, it has sponsored and organized the “Celebrate the Arts” annual event in April, which includes the Melrose Public School Art Show and performances by the Melrose Orchestra, Chorus and Jazz Band.

The Foundation has covered royalties for the MHS drama productions, purchased equipment for the band, funded after school art and robotics programs and subsidized the “Composer in Residence Program.” It also sponsored Project Impact at the MVMMS, which was used to promote a safe and inclusive environment at the school. It has purchased LGBT books and related material for the Victoria McLaughlin Library at the middle school, provided e-readers for a “history taught through fiction program”, and has purchased furniture, subscriptions and reading material that has helped bolster the MHS book collection.

Among the board members of the Victoria McLaughlin Foundation is Wendy Arnold, head librarian at the Melrose Veteran’s Memorial Middle School, who sought a grant request through the Foundation in conjunction with the MVMMS Gay-Straight Alliance to secure funds for reading material important to the cause. The Foundation provided the grant what allowed them to buy the material chosen by the group.

The Foundation also provided critical funds for material the school needed for online learning when the schools were closed during the pandemic.