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.
