Thanks to all the organizations that took the time to participate in our grant making process and share their visions for opportunity and inclusiveness within our communities! Philanthropy often looks like a top-down, one way street, but in truth it’s a collaborative partnership. We wouldn’t, couldn’t, exist without you!
As always, our grant committee had a tough job to make a recommendation for annual grants to our Board of Trustees. This year they selected six organizations in California, Texas, and the Pacific Northwest. You can learn more about the organizations and projects below!
Berkely, CA Waterside Workshops – Richmond Boathouse Expansion Project. Grant will contribute to funding needed to expand the youth boat building program to Richmond. Richmond has miles of beautiful, underused Bay Shore that will allow Waterside Workshops to take their boatbuilding program to the next level and expand the on-water and environmental education aspects of the program. The Richmond Boathouse project will operate as a satellite program to the established Berkeley Boathouse program.
Boise, ID
All Saints Episcopal Church – Grant will enable a Parish Hall Roof Repair. Serious leaks have developed in the building, affecting offices and conference rooms including those used by Boise Valley Habitat for Humanity, the Parish Hall kitchen, and the rooms housing The Friendship Clinic. Multiple organizations rely upon All Saints as their home and meeting place to carry out their separate missions of support for the Bench Community including Foster Grandparents, Alcoholic Anonymous, Overeaters Anonymous, the Angel Tree program, Pridefest, Boy Scouts of America Troop 123, St. Vincent de Paul Thanksgiving Box Program, Crop Walk, and the monthly Friendship Meal. The Parish Hall serves as the emergency meeting center for both nearby Monroe Elementary and Jefferson Elementary Schools.
Corvallis, OR
Team Dirt – Grant will help fun the Corvallis Pump Track. Pump tracks are a relatively new kind of riding structure consisting of perfectly shaped banked turns and rolling straightaways that allow riders to use a pumping motion of the hips and legs to propel their bicycles, skate boards, skates, and scooters around the track. Team Dirt envisions a facility and destination which will inspire kids and families to get outside and exercise. The proposed community facility will help combat the growing obesity problem so prevalent in our nation’s population. Moreover, the location of the pump track, under the bridge on the downtown riverfront, will allow for year around utilization.
Girls on the Run – Grant will fund County Coordination Team Implementation, a new program start-up. Girls on the Run is designed to meet girls in late childhood and arm them with positive emotional, social, mental, and physical developmental experiences to carry with them into adolescence. Girls on the Run has been shown to effectively increase in physical activity and participation in sports teams, commitment to physical activity, self-esteem, and body size satisfaction among participating girls . The County Coordination Team Project will enable Girls on the Run to better serve girls, identify low–income at-risk youth for program expansion, recruit high quality volunteers, and fundraise to support scholarships.
Dallas, TX
Birthday Party Project – The Dallas warehouse is HOT. HOT. HOT! Grant will cover costs to add an air conditioning unit to this warehouse. The Birthday Party Project serves families living in homeless shelters by celebrating birthdays for children ages 1-18 of all genders and races. A special cake and birthday gift is given to the children celebrating a birthday that month. Since 2012, The Birthday Party Project has celebrated over 3,500 birthdays with over 24,000 kids in attendance! Most of the kids have never before had a birthday party.
Seattle, WA
BAYFEST Youth Theater – Grant will fund digital media and office equipment purchases for Dramatic and Active Arts, providing staff with tools and equipment critical to operations and program delivery. BAYFEST serves an average of 300 participants annually, reaching another 700 audience members through public performances. These programs use dramatic and active arts to foster empathetic and cooperative learning environments that provide students and young performers with improved cognitive abilities, language skills, physical awareness, concentration, imagination, and self-confidence.