By Maureen Vander Sanden
Editor
Five local organizations were awarded grants last week from the Elkhorn Fund totaling $10,000 to help continue their missions of bettering the community.
Dozens of civic-minded community leaders gathered Nov. 2 at the Elkhorn Chamber of Commerce as organizations including Blessings in a Backpack, Association for Prevention of Family Violence, the Elkhorn Food Pantry, Hope NOW and Walworth County Association of Home and Community Education were formally recognized as 2012 grant recipients.
With matching funds from Peoples Bank, the permanent endowment fund was established in 2007 and has given back more than $30,000 since its inception.
Grants are awarded to support historical and environmental preservation, education, health care, youth programs and the elderly.
This year, the Fund’s advisory board, made up of local volunteers, received more than $100,000 in grant requests, according to Jeff Rosendahl, board chairman.
“This is a community fund supported by small businesses and it has been a challenge to spread the word,” he added.
John Henderson, who has served on the board for the past five years emphasized: “It is not how much money we spend it is how many lives are affected.”
Blessings in a Backpack, a newly created Tibbets Elementary program that sends kids receiving free or reduced lunch home with weekend meals, received the largest grant of $5,000.
According to Principal Greg Wells, 27 percent of his students are served through the program. It has the potential of improving students’ behavior and attendance as they become more focused.
“I appreciate the vision that The Elkhorn Fund has for the community,” he added.
The four other recipients received grants directly through the Lori Genske Fund, which was set up in 2010 by “The Friends of Elkhorn,” to honor her memory through charitable giving.
The Association for the Prevention of Family Violence was given $1,000 for client transportation services since there is no viable mass transit option in Elkhorn or Walworth County.
APFV Executive Director Heidi Lloyd said her organization comes into people’s lives while they are in a crisis.
“We provide transitional housing and we help in providing a way to services,” she said, before thanking the board for the funds to assist with her clients’ transportation needs.
The Elkhorn Food Pantry, as with previous years, was also included as a grant recipient.
With the Fund’s $1,000 grant, the pantry provides turkeys for the pantry’s holiday baskets dispersed to local families in need.
Betty Felten, president of the pantry, who was present to accept the grant, said the demand for food continues to rise locally. Four hundred people depend on the pantry for food, she said,
“This year the numbers went up 19 percent,” she said of those who use the pantry. According to her, 100 families will receive turkeys for the holiday, and single residents who seek food will get chickens.
Hope NOW, Inc., an organization that also serves the area’s poor, was granted $2,000 to help its recipients with much-needed transportation assistance toward expenses such as vehicle registration and repairs.
Rev. Scott McLeod, who is on the Hope NOW board, said the organization gives up to $500 to families in need.
“We have concentrated on car repair. For families that live paycheck to paycheck, a broken down car can be devastating,” he said. “The Hope Fund knows people who will do these repairs for a low cost to help these families. This fund focuses in on what is not available for families in need that is not offered by other services. They want to help break the cycle of poverty.”
The Walworth County Association of Home and Community Education was the final recipient, with a $1,000 grant toward its Bookworms Program.
Barb Papcke, of HCE, explained that through the program, local volunteers visit Head Start centers in Elkhorn, read a story to kids, and then kids get to take the book home. According to her, 173 students, 53 of whom are from Elkhorn, benefit from the program.
For more information about the Elkhorn Fund, to donate or apply for a grant, visit http://cfsw.org/elkhorn1.aspx, or call Jane Maldonism donor services representative, at (608) 758-0883.
Penny Gruetzmacher contributed to this story.
To Donate
Donations to the Elkhorn Fund are welcome at any time of the year. All gifts are tax deductible. Make an online donation or mail a check to the following:
The Elkhorn Fund
c/o Community Foundation of Southern Wisconsin
26 S. Jackson St.
Janesville, WI 53548.
