Jack had a magical ability to make everyone in his path feel known and loved, and Best Buddies thoroughly embodies the importance of that concept. 2024 marked the beginning of our partnership with Best Buddies of Massachusetts and we’re proud to support its Citizens Program, which provides opportunities for one-to-one friendships between adults with and without intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD). Through their participation, people with IDD form meaningful connections with their peers, gain self-confidence and self-esteem, and share interests, experiences and activities that everyone should enjoy.

Of the many caring communities of which Jack was a part, Seven Locks Elementary played one of the largest and most important roles in shaping who he would ultimately become. Seven Locks was not immune, however, to the many challenges the pandemic and its aftermath posed for academic institutions.  So in 2024, in partnership with Seven Locks faculty and administration, we created the Happy Teachers Make Happy Students Fund, designed to provide resources and opportunities for school faculty and staff to gather, interact, celebrate, and bond, so that future Seven Locks students can benefit from the same close-knit environment that enabled Jack to thrive.

So many chapters of Jack’s life story sit at the intersection of sports and the City of Boston; we’re therefore thrilled to reinforce that connection by supporting the Boston Park & Recreation Department’s youth flag football program.  This winter we’ll be helping nearly 500 Boston children have jerseys as they take the field in one of the city’s largest recreational programs.  Who knows – maybe the next Brady or Gronk will be among them!

Mentoring others and constantly making new personal and professional connections was core to who Jack was, as was his Middlebury experience. The Jack Langerman Endowed Internship Fund was therefore created to enable future generations of Middlebury College students to pursue their professional passions without fear of financial burden (by providing funding for summer internships) and to create the kind of meaningful relationships that can last a lifetime.

Jack spent every summer of his life on Twin Lakes in Salisbury, CT and considered it one of his Happy Places. Every year he’d look across the lake at the summer home of the American School for the Deaf, where deaf and hard of hearing children would swim, canoe, and otherwise experience the great outdoors in the best way possible - together. To help ensure that opportunity is available to as many members of the deaf community as possible, we’ve created a scholarship program to allow financially-challenged families to send their children to this special camp, so they too can enjoy the magic of the Berkshires.

Baseball was one of Jack’s deepest passions. He believed everyone should experience the smell of a freshly-cut outfield grass, the grit of an infield’s dirt, and the thrill of going yard for a game-winning home run. It’s in that spirit we proudly have supported since 2023 the Miracle League of Montgomery County, an amazing program that provides physically disabled children the opportunity to play baseball on an adaptable field and to belong to a community of athletes bonded by a joy for the sport, regardless of their abilities.

As a Freshman on the Panther baseball squad, Jack quickly realized that his contributions to the team’s success would not be measured by his on-field statistics. Instead, with the unwavering support of his incredible coaches and teammates, Jack turned his focus toward building the other components of any successful team: culture, community and camaraderie. In the newly-created position of Director of Baseball Operations Jack became an All-Star, and this grant is intended to extend his off-field impact for years to come.

A Middlebury graduate, Vermont native and close friend of the Langerman family, Charlie Burchard tragically passed away in 1988 at the age of 23. Despite having never met him, Jack had a lifelong connection to Charlie, and his presence, stories and legacy was an important thread through Jack’s childhood and Middlebury years. It was an easy decision then, to support the launch of the Charlie Burchard, a wooden longboat built entirely by Vermont high school students in need of an alternative form of learning. The most recent chapter in a decades-long program created by the Lake Champlain Maritime Museum, the Charlie Burchard now sails proudly among the whitecaps (aka “Seahorses”) of Lake Champlain, keeping watch over the Green Mountains and the State that Jack called “God’s Country”.

It was on his high school baseball field that Jack grew into the player, teammate and leader that others admired, and there that he learned the lessons that provided the framework for his young adult years. The Jack Langerman Community Foundation is proud to support this special program, providing funds to be used for team-building activities and other team needs with the confidence that other young men and women will grow from their experience as much as Jack did, and will in turn make a difference within the many communities in which they’ll no doubt play an important part.

To many the neighborhood pool is the very definition of community – where older kids mentor younger ones, summer friendships are rekindled each year, and everyone can enjoy each other’s company just a little bit more easily. To Jack, it was a place that forged lifelong friendships and countless memories, and by donating funds for a new lifeguard chair the Foundation is thrilled to play a small role in ensuring that future pool-goers will have the opportunity to create similar experiences. One day they may even meet their prom date there – just like Jack did!

Few things defined Jack more than youth sports, mentoring others, and helping those who are struggling to help themselves. The Gladden Community House focuses on all of these and more in the Columbus, Ohio community, and the Jack Langerman Community Foundation is therefore honored to be able to support such an important organization in the city in which Jack spent every Christmas of his life (even if he did sneak out to watch Patriots games while he was there!)