Spring—a time for giving away $$
Posted on May 6, 2008 by Randy Maiers
Spring is finally here and our many grant making committees are in full swing. We have well over 100 highly qualified volunteers within the Community Foundation, many of whom spend time during the winter in warmer climates. But now they’re back and it’s time to put them to work. This is a fun time of year at the Community Foundation. We’re in our grant making season and more money flows out our doors than in. Bankers have a hard time with this concept, but we don’t.
We have an oustanding group of people serving on our Education Task Force. Led by Mike McCartan and Dr. Sushma Reddy, the Education Task Force recently approved over $50,000 in grants including $20,000 to support reading skill programs at area elementary schools.
Our Youth Council, made up of high school students from throughout the county, is very concerned with providing more assistance to high school students as they explore their future educational opportunities. With that in mind they recently provided a $25,000 grant to the Regaional Educational Service Agency (RESA) to help fund a new counselor who will rotate among the high schools and provide students with some time and guidance on their future educational plans. Within the next few weeks the Youth Council will also announce the winner of their $5,000 YAC C.A.R.E.S. award for an oustanding teacher who demonstrates philanthropy and community involvement in his or her classroom. The $5,000 can be used by the teacher next year for any program, project or initiative their class chooses.
Our Algonac Clay Community Fund held another very successful Cinco de Mayor dinner last Friday down in Algonac. It was sold out again and the highlight of the evening for me was watching three local high school students receive scholarship awards of $5,000 each from the Vera Fuller Hansen Scholarship Fund.
Our Breast Cancer Fund, created through a fund raising event by Studio 1219, continues to provide financial assistance through area hospitals so they can provide breast cancer screenings to women without insurance. And speaking of Studio 1219, don’t forget to put May 17th down on your calendar for this year’s Renaissance Roam: the Globe event. It’s the first major event of the summer and the Studio expects another large crowd of over 1,000 for a night of art, wine, music and entertainment at various ‘ports’ throughout downtown Port Huron.
