These causes are close to their hearts
Joan and Steven Belkin's philanthropy stretches from temples to hospitals.
The Weston couple gave more than $1 million in January to Temple Beth Elohim in Wellesley, where Steve Belkin is co chair of the new building campaign. He is chairman and founder of Trans National Group Inc., a $200-million-a-year complex of travel, telecommunications, and financial services companies.
The Moakley Medical Services Building, which opened late last year at Boston Medical Center, features the Belkin Breast Center, funded with a $2.5 million gift from the Belkins.
"Breast cancer has touched so many of our loved family members and good friends," said Steve Belkin, "that we want to do our part in breast cancer prevention and care."
Joan Belkin, a former second grade teacher, has also championed the cause of caring for malnourished children in this country. The Boston Medical Center's Grow Clinic treats children with a condition called failure to thrive, meaning they are not getting sufficient nutrition for their brains and bodies to develop normally.
Fourteen years ago, the Belkins asked chef Gordon Hammersley to open his restaurant for a benefit dinner they dubbed Food For Thought, with the proceeds going to the clinic. Hammersley's restaurant sponsored the dinner for several years, after which chefs Lydia Shire and Jody Adams did the same. As of the most recent dinner in November, the Belkins had raised more than $5 million for the clinic.
"Their Food for Thought dinner raises two-thirds of the budget of the clinic, which is $700,000 per year," says Dr. Deborah Frank, founder and director of the clinic. " Steve has been an incredible source of advice, as well. They have literally been responsible so far for the care of a thousand children."
The couple has also set up a $2.5 million endowment for Boston Medical Center's Food Pantry, the brainchild of Steve Belkin and the only hospital-based food pantry in the country. The pantry teaches low-income families how to cook healthy food and gives in-home nutritional assessments of their children. The Belkins have made several $50,000 pledges to the pantry, and another 40 families have each provided their own $50,000 endowment piece for this effort.
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