Aaron Lewis has raised $250,000 for the It Takes a Community Foundation from two annual charity events.

The singer's fourth annual Aaron Lewis & Friends Benefit Concert took place on June 27, and his third annual Aaron Lewis Invitational Golf Tournament was held on Aug. 9. All of the proceeds from the two events went to the charity, which was started by Lewis and his wife Vanessa in 2010.

“It Takes a Community began when my wife and I joined with neighbors in our small adopted hometown to keep the doors of our community school open after state funding was eliminated due to district consolation,” Lewis says. “It started out as something very personal and close to home but is morphing into something bigger. If we can make a difference in our little corner of Massachusetts, couldn't we give additional worthy organizations in our area a similar leg up?”

The foundation's goal is to provide assistance to rural communities in New England to strengthen and preserve small towns, focusing especially on improving the lives of children.

Keeping the R.H. Conwell School open has been the primary goal of the foundation since it began, but the residents of Worthington, Mass., successfully lobbied for state funding from local tax dollars to stay in Worthington, rather than being poured into the regional school system.

“We have seen firsthand the necessity for smaller communities to have a voice and to determine their own local needs and priorities,” Lewis says. “My wife and I are extremely happy and proud that the R.H. Conwell School is reopening as a public elementary school, and we're excited to expand the foundation and take on new projects.”

Foundation funds will now be shared between Big Brothers Big Sisters of Franklin County, Greenfield Education Foundation and the YMCA of Hampshire County’s Camp Norwich Improvement Fund.

More information about the foundation can be found at itacf.org.

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