BJ Cirnigliaro Memorial Fund makes $25K in contributions to local organizations

Pictured (front row, L-R): Matthew Neuman, Esq., managing member, Absolute Title; Shamera Simpson, executive director – NH and ME, American Foundation for Suicide Prevention; Pamela Hawkes, chief development officer, Easterseals NH; Dian McCarthy, executive director, Crispin’s House Coalition for Youth; Jeffrey Zwillenberg, chief development and marketing officer, Families in Transition; Major Colin DeVault, Th.D., corps commanding officer, Salvation Army – Manchester; Eileen Liponis, executive director, NH Food Bank; Peter McNamara, executive director, Friends of the Manchester Animal Shelter; come together for a luncheon as recipients of donations from Absolute Title’s BJ Cirnigliaro Memorial Fund.

BEDFORD, NH – The BJ Cirnigliaro Memorial Fund, which was created in early 2021 by Absolute Title, has announced $25,000 in donations to seven local organizations – the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, Crispin’s House, Friends of the Manchester Animal Shelter, Families in Transition, NH Food Bank, Easterseals New Hampshire and the Salvation Army.
Absolute Title, the region’s leading title company with locations in Bedford, Concord and Portsmouth, created the memorial fund to honor its longtime employee, BJ Cirnigliaro, who unexpectedly passed away in 2020. BJ was one of the company’s first employees and, as senior vice president, opened the company’s office in Portsmouth in May 2019.
The recipients of this year’s donations were selected by a committee of Absolute Title employees, chaired by Lisa Capicchioni, senior loan officer at Guild Mortgage, and a longtime friend of BJ. This year’s donations include:
  • $5,000 to the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (AFSP), in support of both the New Hampshire Chapter and the Greater Nashua Walk to Fight Suicide. The AFSP focuses on delivering innovative prevention programs, educating the public about risk factors and warning signs, raising funds for suicide research and programs, and reaching out to those who have lost someone to suicide.
  • $5,000 to Easterseals New Hampshire. Half of the funds will be allocated to general support of the Veterans Count program and the other half allocated to general support of the Farnum Center. Veterans Count provides clinical and social services, as well as financial assistance, to service members, veterans and their families. The Farnum Center is Easterseals’ comprehensive alcohol and other drug addiction treatment facility, which served nearly 10,000 adults last year.
  • $5,000 to Crispin’s House Coalition for Youth to provide scholarship support to two Goffstown High School students.
  • $3,000 to Families in Transition (FIT). Headquartered in Manchester, New Hampshire, FIT seeks to break the cycle of homelessness by providing housing programs, emergency homeless shelters, food programs and substance use treatment.
  • $2,500 to the New Hampshire Food Bank. The NH Food Bank, a program of Catholic Charities NH, is the only food bank in the state. The Food Bank supplies millions of pounds of food annually to hundreds of partner agencies in all 10 NH counties, and they run several programs throughout the year to teach people new skills, empowering them to become more self-sufficient.
  • $2,500 to the Salvation Army – Manchester. The funds will be directed to the Salvation Army Santa Fund, which is used to provide warm clothing, meals and toys for local families.
  • $2,000 to Friends of the Manchester Animal Shelter. The animal shelter takes in homeless, abused and abandoned animals and provides shelter, medical care and spay/neuter to every animal that comes through its doors.
The BJ Cirnigliaro Memorial Fund is administered by the New Hampshire Charitable Foundation and seeks to support suicide prevention programs, animal shelters and humane societies, and mental health, LGBTQ, and home ownership support organizations.
“The organizations chosen as this year’s beneficiaries do tremendous work in our community and their missions align with BJ’s passions,” said Matthew Neuman, Esq., managing member of Absolute Title. “She was a beloved member of the Absolute Title team and we are honored to be able to remember her in this way. She was a kind soul who left her mark not only at our company, but on New Hampshire’s title industry.”
All of the recipients of this year’s donations were honored at a luncheon at Absolute Title’s Concord office on November 9.