The 9/11 Spirit of America Memorial received $5,000 to support the curving trellises that will be located above the four concrete sitting benches of the site. The memorial will be dedicated in Cashmere, WA on September 11th, 2015.

Grant Program Changes to Increase Awards through Give NCW Crowdfunding

The Community Foundation of NCW has awarded $126,262 in grants to 30 nonprofits in North Central Washington. Through the Regional Impact Grant (RIG) program, nonprofit agencies in Chelan, Douglas, and Okanogan counties were eligible for up to $5,000 to support their program needs or special projects.

This will be the last cycle of the traditional RIG program as it is changing. The new program no longer has a funding cap in response to the nonprofit community’s request to help make a bigger impact in the areas they serve. Applications for the current RIG are now open and are due September 1st.

The foundation will also launch a crowd-funding campaign, Give NCW that will complement the RIG Program and invite the public to help support their grant request.

“We are very excited about the changes to the Regional Impact Grant program” said Denise Sorom, Director of Community Philanthropy for the foundation. “For years our grantees have been asking us if we can make more of an impact with our grant offerings. By publishing our grants to an online giving platform and inviting public to give to projects they care about, we are able to leverage our dollars and help build awareness and support in the process.”

The following is a list of the recent RIG recipients and their awarded programs/projects:

Arts & Humanities

• Icicle Creek Center for the Arts – $5,000 to support a new film-making education program, which is being added to the existing lineup of summer programs for youth and year-round adult education programs.
• Okanogan Valley Orchestra and Chorus – $4,400 to support OVOC’s 2016 February Family Concert.
• Wenatchee Maker Faire – $5,000 toward the hosting of the Wenatchee Mini Maker Faire. A Maker Faire is an event where tinkerers, inventors, techies, enthusiasts, and other creative minds are given the opportunity to show off their own innovations and creations to the community.
• Write on the River – $5,000 to support the quarter-time Executive Director salary while the organization works to diversify its funding base and grow its membership.

Education

• Page Ahead Children’s Literacy Program – $5,000 toward the Book Up Summer Program. The program gives students from low-income families the resources and incentive they need to keep up their reading over the summer in an effort to avoid summer reading setback.

Environmental & Animal Protection

• Chelan-Douglas Land Trust – $5,000 to support the new “Kids & Nature Connections” program, a series of community-based events designed to get kids outside to explore and learn about nature, encourage a love of learning, and build a culture of conservation in future generations.
• Columbia Breaks Fire Interpretive Center – $3,750 toward the creation of an ultra high-definition disk that summarizes John Marshall’s photography of the effects of wildfire on forest ecology. The disk will be distributed to the educational community and further enhance the educational mission of Columbia Breaks.
• HawkWatch International – $2,500 to support the Chelan Ridge Raptor Migration Festival and Education Program, which provides community members with the opportunity to visit an active hawk watch site to view wildlife and education programs designed to each about raptor identification, migration ecology, and local flora and fauna.
• Northwest Youth Corps – $3,500 to ensure the safety of corps members and crew leaders in the field throughout the summer by providing epi-pens and a freezer to store food to sustain the crew on arduous projects.

Health & Human Services

• Alatheia Riding Center – $5,000 toward the Financial Aid Fund to assist riders in meeting the cost of fees for therapeutic riding at the Alatheia Riding Center.
• Boys & Girls Club of Brewster – $5,000 to provide enrichment programs that align with the three organizational outcomes: Academic Success; Good Character & Citizenship; and Healthy Lifestyles. The programs run through after-school and out-of-school programs during the school year and through summer camps.
• Cascade Medical Foundation – $5,000 toward the purchase of a new ambulance, allowing Cascade Medical to more efficiently serve the surrounding community.
• Cashmere United Methodist Church – $3,000 to support air conditioner installation for the free community meal program every Thursday night.
• Douglas County Fire District #5 – $5,000 to provide all of the district’s Emergency Medical Technicians (EMT) with Basic Life Support (BLS) trauma bags for their personal vehicles. The aid bags will contain all the necessary equipment an EMT needs to provide aid to a patient prior to an ambulance arriving to the scene.
• Honorable Welcome Home – $2,500 to support a four day retreat for Veterans and their spouses to connect with other vets.
• Lake Chelan Community Hospital Foundation – $4,401 toward the purchase of equipment and materials for use in the pediatric occupational therapy program, which serves an increasing number of young patients with developmental delays, physical disabilities, and emotional or behavioral problems.
• Lighthouse Christian Ministries – $5,000 toward the Lighthouse Soup Kitchen’s fixed operating expenses to help meet current demand for services.
• Mountain Meadows Senior Living – $5,000 toward construction of a perimeter wall around their new outdoor patio. The wall will ensure both safety and privacy for residents.
• Small Miracles – $5,000 to support their Summer Food Program, which feeds a nutritious lunch throughout the week to children who are on free or reduced lunch during the school year.
• Vincent de Paul Society – $4,580 to support the operation of a weekly food bank that serves hundreds of individuals and families every week.
• Upper Valley MEND – $5,000 to support Community Harvest, a new project for MEND, which uniquely addresses hunger and nutrition by establishing partnerships to facilitate the donation of fresh produce to food banks through a modern adaptation of the age-old practice of gleaning, or collecting leftover crops from agricultural fields.
• Wenatchee Bretheren Baptist Homes – $2,000 to purchase new tableware and food service delivery cart for Garden Terrace.
• Wenatchee Family Counseling Services – $1,000 to support counselor attendance at the national conference of the American Association for Christian Counselors, which will provide guidance on best practices and current needs in the field of counseling services.
• Wenatchee Valley YMCA – $4,531 to purchase four mobile, convertible bench cafeteria tables and six lightweight folding tables to help meet healthy eating and risk management standards for increasing participation in the YMCA After School Program.

Public & Social Benefit

• 9/11 Spirit of America Memorial – $5,000 to purchase stainless steel for fabrication of the curving trellises that will be located above the four concrete sitting benches of the site. The memorial will be dedicated in Cashmere, WA on September 11^th, 2015.
• Chelan County Historical Society – $5,000 toward replacement of the roof of the Cashmere Museum.
• Malaga Community Council – $2,500 toward the development of a community park along the Malaga Alcoa Highway. The park’s 3.65 acre site will include a soccer and baseball field, parking lot, picnic area, and playground.
• Pateros Brewster Community Resource Center – $5,000 to form a community-based resource organization that can provide a location and sustainable infrastructure for other agencies to offer services to the Pateros and Brewster communities.
• Wenatchee Downtown Association – $5,000 toward the replacement of the city street lights in downtown Wenatchee with energy efficient LED lights that will provide better illumination.

For more information about Regional Impact Grants and Give NCW, visit www.cfncw.org or www.givencw.org.