Joshua Kaye Foundation

The Joshua Kaye Foundation is a Braintree nonprofit that works to end hunger, promote animal welfare and create opportunities for children in need, while empowering young people to make positive changes in their communities. Its hands-on community projects center on inclusion, education, ecology and the arts. Volunteers, sponsors and partners can get involved in its programs, and the foundation also sells merchandise such as stickers and hacky sacks online.

The foundation was started by the Kaye family in memory of Josh, who died of an E. coli infection in July 2014, weeks before his ninth birthday. Josh cared deeply about hunger, homelessness, animals and the ocean; he helped with stranded dolphins on Cape Cod and had trained to volunteer at New England Wildlife Center. His mother, Melissa, leads the foundation full-time as unpaid executive director, carrying on the work he would have done.

What to Know

• The foundation is a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt charity in Massachusetts.
• Its annual Holiday Baking Bags program gives local families pantry essentials and baking ingredients each fall.
• It recruits committee members and sponsors for the Weymouth Festival of Trees, a December event that helps bring holiday foods to neighbors in need.
• Other programs include an Acts of Kindness Campaign and marine wildlife rehabilitation and community education.