Tag Archives: Wyoming Community Foundation

Local grant awards help shine a light on housing needs

3-bottom, Citizen Journalism, City of Wyoming, , ,

By Joanne Bailey-Boorsma
WKTV Managing Editor
joanne@wktv.org

The need for homes has become a pressing issue in West Michigan, especially affordable homes.

A need that the Wyoming Community Foundation recognized in its 2022 grant awards, giving two local organizations about a third of its annual grant moneys. ICCF Community Homes, a nonprofit community developer that serves the Grand Rapids area including Wyoming, received $1,500, and The Source, a nonprofit based in the City of Wyoming and works with about 25 employers to help employees overcome barriers to work, received the largest grant, $5,000.

“In 2008, we had the great recession and we stopped building homes for about 10 years,” said Chris Hall, who works with ICCF Community Homes and is also a Wyoming Community Foundation board member. Hall noted that he excused himself on the discussion for the grant for ICCF Community Homes. “At the same time, the area is on all these lists, Great Place to Raise a Family, Hottest Zip Code…evidence of the fact that this is a great place to be and [people] want to be here.

“Over the last 10 years, people have been coming and staying, but we haven’t been building and now we are at a basic point of supply is low and demand is high.”

The housing need

The kitchen and dining room of ICCF Community Homes’ homeless family housing unit suitable for a small family. (Supplied)

According to a Grand Rapids Chamber housing study for Kent Country, it is estimated that the county needs about 22,139 new housing units to keep up with demand. The same study also showed that 63,000 or 27% of homeowners are cost-overburnened with more that 30% of household income dedicated to housing costs.

Because of the demand, it has raised housing prices, changing the face of the homeless to working class people, Hall said.

“It’s hard to thrive if you don’t know where you are going to sleep at night or next week or are they going to let me have my kids with me?” he said. “How are you going to thrive as an employee when that type of thing is going on?”

The Wyoming Community Foundation grant for ICCF Community Homes will be used to help replace a roof on a home on 30th Street in Wyoming. By being able to partner with the Foundation for the roof, it helps to keep rents low giving access to housing to more people, Hall said. 

Rent assistance

“There use to be a lot of funding in the state for rent assistance but a lot of that funding has disappeared so this grant is going to help us with Wyoming residents,” said Sarah Westoby, a resource navigator for The Source. Westoby said most of the past rent assistance programs were COVID specific and have since ended. The Source recognizes that people are going to continue to have housing instabilities.

The Source works with a number of different organizations to help with food, child care, housing and other needs. Sometimes there are gaps in what can be provided and the Wyoming Community Foundation grant will help with those gaps, especially in rent, Westoby said.

Making Wyoming a better place

Every year, the Wyoming Community Foundation awards around $15,000 to about eight different organizations serving the population of the City of Wyoming.

“It’s not a whole lot of money but it is enough to make a difference,” Hall said, adding that the goal is to help make the Wyoming community a better place to live.

The other Wyoming Community Foundation grant recipients are:

Affinity Mentoring received $1,500 to continue to support the Mentoring Center sites at Godfrey Early Childhood Center, Godfrey Elementary and the Godfrey-Lee Middle School campus.

 

Hope Gardens received $2,700 to install garden infrastructure at four Godwin Heights and Wyoming Public Schools and expand hand-ons garden programming into daytime STEM lessons at three Wyoming schools.

Remembrance Ranch received $1,800 to provide teens with the backpacking equipment needed for participation at camps.

Senior Sing Along received $1,000 to provide music-based programming to seniors in Wyoming care facilities.

Strategic Workforce Solutions received $1,000 to offer MiCareerQuest to local students so they can explore careers in five high-demand industries: advanced manufacturing, agribusiness, construction, health sciences, and technology information.

YMCA of Greater Grand Rapids received $1,000 for an after school program for youth from low-income and at-risk background and scholarships for a statewide youth in government conference.

Senior Sing-A-Long continues to provide the soundtrack to life

3-bottom, City of Wyoming, Recreation, Senior Living, , ,

By Sheila McGrath
WKTV Contributing Writer

A few years after Senior Sing A-Long started its life enrichment music programs for seniors, they began providing music therapy by licensed music therapists as well. (Courtesy)

Like many organizations, Senior Sing A-Long took a hit in the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic.

With senior living communities on lockdown, the Wyoming nonprofit couldn’t schedule the life enrichment music programs the organization has been providing in West Michigan since 2004. The programs, offered for free or at a greatly reduced cost, use live performances to revitalize the minds and spirits of people living in long-term care communities.

The pandemic also made it hard to hold the types of in-person fundraisers that help pay for Senior Sing A-Long’s services, according to Development Director Sarah Dwortz.

But although they have had to reshuffle their priorities at times over the past two years, Senior Sing A-Long is still going strong. They recently received a $6,000 grant from the Alzheimer’s Foundation of America, which helped to fill a funding gap, Dwortz said.

“We work with about 70 musicians on our list, and communities have their favorites – they can pick from the list,” Dwortz said. “We can offer them at no cost or much below market cost thanks to funding like this.”

 

Senior Sing A-Long receives grants from many foundations, including the Wyoming Community Foundation, Keller Foundation and West Michigan Alliance for Veterans, as well as corporate sponsorships and private donations.

The organization was founded in 2004 by Ken and Hattie Van Haaften, and is now run by their daughter, Jill Dover. The Van Haaftens started the program after realizing that music programs were one of the only things that could cheer up Ken’s mother, Katherine, when she was living in a nursing home. After a visit from a musician who played songs Katherine remembered from her youth, she would brighten up and talk about her life and memories.

The Senior Sing A-Long program has about 70 musicians working with several communities. (Courtesy)

“It started out by Ken going to Marge’s and finding musicians who might help him out,” said Dwortz, of Ken’s visits to the popular Wyoming doughnut shop (Marge’s Donut Den) that hosts live music. “One thing led to another. Now there’s a wide array of musicians, and the volume has been much greater than Jill and her dad ever anticipated.”

A few years after Senior Sing A-Long started its life enrichment music programs for seniors, they began providing music therapy by licensed music therapists as well. The music therapy program consists of small groups of seniors creating music by playing instruments, and serves as a way to accomplish therapeutic goals.

“Right now we’re working with approximately 60 communities – some just for music therapy, some for life enrichment, and some for both,” Dwortz said.

If funding weren’t an issue, Senior Sing A-Long would love to serve more communities at no cost, Dwortz said. And they would love to add another music therapist to its staff.

“We always want to continue to provide service to communities that otherwise wouldn’t have it due to the budget they have available,” she said. “We believe it’s necessary. It’s basic quality of life. I see it bringing a lot of joy.”

Donations are always welcome – and so are musicians willing to play for the seniors in the communities.

“We are always happy to hear from people if they have a musical talent. We’re always looking for more musicians,” Dwortz said. “For a lot of them, it’s nice to make a little money during the day, and they’re pretty philanthropic at the same time. They’re giving every day they do it. People love them. I think they get something out of it.”

More information about Senior Sing A-Long is available on their website at seniorsingalong.org.

Wyoming Community Foundation announces 2020 grant recipients

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Wyoming Community Foundation Chair Greg Kings sits down with Host Faith Morgan to talk about the foundations work in 2020

By Faith Morgan
WKTV Intern

Persevering through a pandemic, school systems and nonprofit organizations in Wyoming sought financial support. The Wyoming Community Foundation stepped in to help provide relief aid to some of these organizations in addition to their annual grant recipients.

This past summer, the foundation provided $5,000 evenly split among two nonprofits for hunger relief/food bank support: Family Network of Wyoming and United Church Outreach Ministries. Karrie Brown, executive director of development for Family Network of Wyoming, said her organization would be using the funds to create a mini-shopping during their pantry experience. UCOM will use its $2,500 to provide affordable access to nutritious locally grown produce.

“In terms of our funding, we saw a definite increase in the amount of organizations who are looking for funding,” said Wyoming Community Foundation Chair Greg King. “We had a lot of nonprofit organizations reaching out asking for input, and for funding especially with COVID-19.”

This year the foundation received 14 grant applications in comparison to the 10 applications received in 2019, 11 in 2018, and seven in 2017.

 

The 2020 grant recipients:

  • Affinity Mentoring – $2,000 to transition to virtual mentoring in order to mitigate the effects of COVID-19 and provide equitable access to academic, relational support to students.
  • Feeding America West Michigan – $2,000 to support three Mobile Food Pantries, which provide food assistance for the Wyoming community.
  • HOPE Gardens – $600 to expand Team 21 in-class garden curricula and after school programming to Godfrey Elementary and Lee Middle Schools.
  • SLD Read – $500 to provide tutoring services, including assessments and individual tutoring, to address educational difficulties as a result of school closures.
  • United Church Outreach Ministry – $2,500 to provide affordable access to nutritious locally grown produce.
  • Godwin Heights Public Schools – $1,500 to support the Lower Elementary Sensory Walk at West Godwin Elementary.

Another need is volunteers to join the The Wyoming Community Foundation’s board and its Youth Advisory Committee which oversees grant-making for organizations that benefit Wyomig youth.

If you are interested in joining the Wyoming Community Foundation board or looking for more information you can visit grfoundation.org/wyoming

The Wyoming Community Foundation is a regional affiliate of Grand Rapids Community Foundation. Annually the organization selects grant recipients. Applicants for these grants must be nonprofit organizations that are based in the Wyoming area or are doing work to make necessary improvements in the Wyoming community.

Wyoming Community Foundation continues to focus on the needs of its community

3-bottom, City of Wyoming, , , ,
Wyoming Community Foundation Chair Greg King sit-down with WKTV Journal’s Managing Editor Joanne Bailey-Boorsma to talk about the Wyoming Community Foundation. (WKTV)



By Joanne Bailey-Boorsma
joanne@wktv.org

For Wyoming’s Oriole Park Elementary, it was getting a set of recycling bins to help with its recycling effort. For the YMCA of Greater Grand Rapids , it was supporting its Y Achievers Program to bring it to the middle and high school students at Godwin Heights and Godfrey Lee schools. 

Since 1992, this is the kind of support that the Wyoming Community Foundation has been providing to the City of Wyoming through its two grant programs.

 

“It kind of came about as a group of individuals who came together looking to do community stewardship,” said Greg King, who recently became the chair of the Wyoming Community Foundation. “That there were so many different needs going on in Wyoming, and how could this group help fund and support them going forward.”

A few years ago, the Wyoming Community Foundation helped fund new recycling bins for Wyoming’s Oriole Park Elementary School. (WKTV)

The foundation is an affiliate of the Grand Rapids Foundation which King said the Grand Rapids Community Foundation handles most of the administration details for the Foundation. In fact, the Grand Rapids Community Foundation lists five community affiliate funds that include the communities of Ionia, Hudsonville-Jension, Lowell, Sparta, and Wyoming.

The Wyoming Community Foundation ten-member board, which makes decisions on who will receive grants, is made up of community and City of Wyoming business leaders such as Lillian Vanderveen, owner of Lenger Travel, and Chris Hall, former chair and Inner City Christian Federation community homes initiative manager. 

The Wyoming Community Foundation awards two types of grants, general fund grants and Youth Advisory Committee grants. Currently, the Youth Advisory Committee program is on hiatus for a year as the group looks to revamp the program. King said the plan is to work with schools that have a footprint in the City of Wyoming to identify the issues the youth committee should focus on. Those schools are Wyoming Public Schools, Godfrey-Lee Public Schools, Godwin Heights Public Schools and Kelloggsville Public Schools,

“ [We are] looking at some of the priorities that have changed,” King said. “The priorities that the act [which created the Youth Advisory Committee] had were back from 2016. Things have changed in the past four years. We are looking at getting more input from the schools on what the giving priority should be for our youth.”

Through the foundation’s general fund, the Wyoming Community Foundation did award about $14,000 to six different organizations in 2019. All of the organizations had programs that would directly benefit the City of Wyoming residents, King said. Those groups included Affinity Mentoring, Feeding America Mobile Food Pantries, Junior Achievement, Senior Sing-Along, UCOM’s Eat Healthy, Be Healthy, and the YMCA’s Y Achievers.

Any 501c3 organization that works within the city may apply for a grant. The application process opens in July and ends the second Friday in September. Decisions are announced by Oct. 31. The Youth Advisory Committee grant process usually starts in February. 

King said the Foundation can also serve as a springboard for organizations looking for other funding opportunities or residents looking for volunteer possibilities within the community. In fact, King said the Wyoming Community Foundation is currently looking to expand its board and interested residents can contact the Wyoming Community Foundation through its website, https://www.grfoundation.org/about/regional-affiliates/wyoming, or Facebook page.

School News Network: Tireless Go-getter Makes Her Community a Better Place; Dreams of a Brighter Tomorrow

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Senior Maria Aguirre, at center, discusses Student Leadership Council details with seniors Rocio Niño and Kamille Martinez

By Erin Albanese

School News Network

 

Maria Aguirre likes to help other people’s dreams come true: making sure a child has presents wrapped under the tree on Christmas morning, doing her part to fund cancer research, helping distribute grants to organizations doing good in her Wyoming community.

 

Through extensive giving back and taking a leadership role in doing so, she reveals the good in people and the community, making places and people’s days brighter. She’s a leader at Godwin Heights Public Schools, the newly-named president for Student Leadership Council, and continually organizing programs and pitching in on school-wide efforts.

 

“I like trying to get the better out of the community, and putting forward that good. It makes you feel good about yourself, bringing out what’s better in the world,” Maria said.

 

Maria is a scholar, a worker, a leader, and a Dreamer.

 

Godwin Heights High School senior Maria Aguirre has been recognized for leadership by teacher Katie Hoffman

‘It Makes me Feel Torn’

The 17-year-old senior arrived with her parents from Mexico when she was 3-years-old, and hasn’t been back there since. She doesn’t remember their home in Monterrey, the capital of the northeastern Mexican state of Nuevo León, or what it’s like there.

 

At age 15, she paid the $495 application fee for protection from deportation and a work permit through the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals policy, created under the Obama Administration. She enrolled as a Dreamer, along with her brothers, among 800,000 individuals in the program.

 

Now, with doubt cast on her permanent status in the U.S. by the Trump Administration, who rescinded the policy in September, Maria’s dreams are hazy. Trump’s decision officially ends the program in March and halts new applications, but those whose permits expire before March 5 can apply for a two-year renewal, which Maria did. (Trump called on Congress to pass immigration legislation to replace it, and tweeted that he will “revisit this issue” if Congress does not act.)

 

“It makes me worried if in the future I won’t be able to qualify for a replacement of DACA. Would I have to go back to a country that isn’t my country – that I don’t know anything about?

 

Would-be social worker Maria Aguirre is recognized school-wide for leadership

“It makes me feel torn. It makes me feel depressed.”

 

But Maria is the kind of person who keeps forging ahead at her school and in the community, despite what her future holds.

 

Beginning each November since her freshman year, she has been collecting as many toys as possible with the Student Leadership Council for DA Blodgett St. John’s Home. The Council invites Godwin teachers to adopt children at the foster-care facility and have them encourage students to bring in gifts.

 

Annually, she works with fellow members of National Honor Society to clean up nearby Hillcroft Park. She raises funds for Relay for Life, the annual 24-hour walk to raise money for cancer research. She’s planning an Unsung Heroes Dinner at school to recognize support staff, like janitors and paraprofessionals, who make a difference at the school. Maria gets to church early to help with Sunday School.

 

An ambitious student, Maria is dual-enrolled at Grand Rapids Community College, where she’ll tally up a year’s worth of college credit by the time she graduates in May. She has a 3.8 grade-point average.

 

She just joined the Wyoming Community Foundation Youth Advisory Council to help allocate grant money to local nonprofits and works part-time at McDonald’s.

 

“Maria is a great role model for her peers and is a positive presence in the school,” said Student Leadership Council advisor Katie Hoffman. “She stands out as someone who wants to make a difference and is willing to go above and beyond to make our school and community a better place to be.”

 

Maria is always looking for new ways to influence and encourage others, Hoffman said. “I know that she will be successful in whatever field she chooses to go into and we are lucky that she has been a part of our Godwin family.”

 

Maria Aguirre, president of the Student Leadership Council, explains to members how the Christmas adopt-a-child program for D.A. Blodgett-St. John’s Home works

Still Dreaming

Maria’s dreams are to go to Aquinas College or Grand Valley State University to pursue a degree in sociology and become a social worker. She dreams of making life better for people, and first and foremost, helping support her parents financially.

 

“Ever since I was little, I grew up struggling economically. I want to be able to, in the future, not have my parents have to work anymore,” she said. Her father is a dishwasher and her mother a stay-at-home mom.

 

She said growing up with limited financial resources made her passionate about doing what she can to get to college. “It was difficult, but you proceed through it and realize you need to get the education to do better.”

 

Godwin Heights staff members have been supportive, she said. During visits to college campus, counselors ask for any information pertaining to DACA students.

 

“I feel pretty confident that I am going to start college here. It feels unknown that I am going to finish it here,” Maria said.

 

When the DACA decision was announced, Maria’s parents were concerned for their children, who they raised as Americans. The family had already taken in children of a deported friend who wondered when their mother would be back. “They were really heartbroken. They were mostly sad.”

 

Encouraging Others and Getting Things Done

 

 

While leading the Leadership Team meeting on a recent Wednesday during lunch in Hoffman’s classroom, Maria told peers the details of the Christmas donation event for D.A. Blodgett-St. John’s Home. The collecting will kick off next month.

 

Team members said Maria stands out as a leader. As president of the Leadership Council, Maria knows how to get things done, said junior Luz Parada. She is a good example of how to lead a big group and be a positive influence on people. She is very supportive.

 

“I’ve known Maria for six years. She is my best friend,” said senior Kamille Martinez. “She stands out because she stands up for people no matter what the issue is. She stays ahead of her work. She is an encouraging person to others. She is an amazing person.”

 

After participating in discussion about popcorn sales and a new idea to greet students in fun ways as they arrive to school on Monday mornings, Maria wrapped up the meeting and prepared to head to GRCC for a college course. Despite what the future holds, she’s choosing a path for her dreams to become reality, being involved, pursuing education and helping others.

 

“You see all the bad that’s going on and all the suffering and you just want to get away from that and bring out the good that’s still left in the world,” she said.

 

Check out School News Network for more stories about students, schools, and faculty in West Michigan.