This week, Grand Rapids Community Foundation’s Board of Trustees awarded grants totaling $530,000 to nonprofit organizations in Kent County.
Camp Newaygo will use a $100,000 grant to fund its Four Seasons of Discovery Capital Campaign. The project will transform the 82-year-old Camp Newaygo from summer-only residency to a year-round outdoor resource for youth and families in West Michigan.
Grand Rapids Area Center for Ecumenism (GRACE) will support the community’s effort to end homelessness and promote permanent housing with a $100,000 grant. GRACE will contribute funds for rent assistance as well as establish supportive relationships with the homeless population.
Grandville Avenue Arts & Humanities is receiving $30,000 to build a larger facility to house the Grandville Avenue Neighborhood Library and to expand programs and services to benefit the children of Grandville Avenue neighborhood. Children will have access to books and resource materials, public computers and after-school programs.
Land Conservancy of West Michigan will use a $125,000 grant to add staff members, increase the acreage of permanent land and watershed protection, assure adequate coverage throughout the service area and improve the organization’s long-term sustainability.
Rogers Heights Christian Reformed Church is receiving $25,000 to provide outreach and intervention services for at-risk youth through Project ACTION (Assisting Challenged Teenagers In Our Neighborhood). Services include school assemblies, after-school programs, gang intervention outreach, broadening the existing service provider coalition and developing a literacy program for youth to express themselves.
Wedgwood Christian Services, Inc. will use a $150,000 grant to construct a new, LEED Certified building for Lighthouse Academy, which will double its capacity to serve expelled and educationally at-risk middle and high school students.
These grants are made possible through the generosity of the Charles Evenson Fund for the Environment; Estate of Melanie L. Muir; Kenneth M. Sweers Fund for the Homeless; Kathryn and Dennis Sullivan Charitable Fund; Englebert J. and Lelah Sexton Vogt Trust; Marvin Stahl Fund, George and Mary Metz Charitable Fund, Mary I. and David D. Hunting Family Fund; The C. Lincoln Linderholm Trust; Ken, Melinda and Andrew Krei Youth Fund; John, Margaret and Maryellen Berry Fund; Anne Katherine VanLoo Eldred Education Fund; and the Arthur D. Wolf Foundation Trust.