Quick answers about who we are and how we work.

Springfield Together, Inc. is a community nonprofit based in Springfield, Massachusetts, focused on youth development, education, and family support through events and partnerships rather than direct social services.

In practice that shows up as recurring community events (holiday parties, back-to-school drives, food distributions, and police-community programs) run with local businesses, schools, and the Springfield Police Department's C3 (Counter Criminal Continuum) policing unit in Forest Park.

Yes. Springfield Together, Inc. is registered with the IRS as a tax-exempt charitable organization, EIN 83-2443347. Donations are tax-deductible to the extent allowed by law.

Springfield Together traces its roots to 2013, when it began as an informal group organizing community events in Springfield. It was formally incorporated as a nonprofit in 2015, in partnership with the Springfield Police Department's C3 Unit.

Most of our work centers on recurring, hands-on community events rather than ongoing case management or direct services. Documented activities include:

• Holiday and seasonal events. Easter parties, decorating parties, Halloween events, Thanksgiving giveaways (including Spanish-language outreach), and Christmas/holiday parties for children and families. The annual Springfield Holiday Festival is co-hosted with Mayor Domenic Sarno, Springfield Police Commissioner Cheryl Clapprood, Strong Young Minds, and Elks Lodge #61.
• Shop with a Cop. An annual holiday shopping event pairing Springfield elementary school students with police officers and sheriff's deputies at a local Walmart. Sponsors have included Walmart, City Connects, Springfield Police, C3 Forest Park, Springfield Public Schools, the Law Offices of Dunn and Phillips, and the Hampden County Sheriff's Department.
• Food distribution. Recurring produce giveaways with Inter Produce Supermarket on White Street, where owner Ali Bulut donates roughly 200 boxes of fresh food per event to families through Springfield Public Schools' City Connects program — at its busiest, as many as six giveaways in a single year.
• COVID-era adaptations. Through 2020–21 the organization kept its annual events running in drive-thru and drive-by formats, including a holiday stocking drive-by, Stuff the Cruiser collection drives with the police, and a drive-thru Halloween Trunk or Treat at the Elks Lodge (October 2021).
• Community fundraisers, including a WWLP MassAppeal wine-tasting event that raised support for Ukraine relief.
• Ladies' Day Out and end-of-year cookouts. Recurring social and community-building events for adults and families.

A small volunteer board. Meet the full board →

Board summary:

• Gary Delisle, President. A Springfield native now living in East Longmeadow; Westfield State University graduate.
• Neil Phillips, Vice President & Clerk. A practicing attorney since 1979 (Westfield State and Western New England Law); also involved with Celebration of Hope of Western Mass.
• Phillip Bambara, Treasurer. CPA and Notre Dame graduate, previously at Price Waterhouse & Co. and Aetna; co-chairs Rebuilding Together of Manchester, CT.
• Jerry Nardi, Director. Involved with several humanitarian causes, including Cospas-Sarsat and the Christian Appalachian Project.
• Shatequa "Teka Jones" Watkins, Director. Founder of Strong Young Minds Inc.; appointed to Springfield's COVID-19 Youth Council and named a 2025 Commonwealth Heroine by the Massachusetts Commission on the Status of Women.

Current and past partners include iHeartRadio, the Law Offices of Dunn and Phillips P.C., Springfield Elks Lodge, Palazzo Cafe, All About You Home Healthcare LLC, Food Zone, Inter Produce Supermarket, Strong Young Minds, Walmart, and Big Y. Partnership generally takes the form of event sponsorship, in-kind donations, or co-hosting, rather than ongoing financial grants.

Yes, intermittently, mostly by Springfield-area TV stations covering our events:

• WWLP (22News) covered a 2021 food distribution at Inter Produce, where volunteers and teachers got donated groceries to Springfield-area school families during the pandemic.
• WWLP also covered our Shop with a Cop event at the Boston Road Walmart, where Hampden County Sheriff Nick Cocchi and Springfield police officers took students holiday shopping.
• In May 2022, WWLP's MassAppeal featured a Springfield Together wine-tasting fundraiser supporting Ukraine.

We're an independent nonprofit, not a city agency. But we work closely with the Springfield Police Department's C3 Unit and with Springfield Public Schools' City Connects program. That partnership is foundational to our history: we formally incorporated as a nonprofit specifically while teaming up with the C3 Unit in 2015, and most flagship events (Shop with a Cop, holiday giveaways) are co-run with police, schools, or both.

Three channels: showing up to volunteer at events, partnering as a local business or organization, or making a direct donation.

Because we're small, the most reliable way to start is by reaching out directly via email or Facebook. See the contact form or message us at hello@springfieldtogether.org. Our online donation platform is being set up; until then, give by check to the address above or email us to coordinate.

No. We should not be confused with Rebuilding Together (a separate, unaffiliated nonprofit focused on home repairs), or with other "Together" or "Springfield" civic branding used elsewhere in the city or in other Springfields nationally. This Springfield Together is specifically the Springfield, Massachusetts organization headquartered in the Forest Park neighborhood, EIN 83-2443347.