Wayne County Foundation Awards $212,626 For Mini Grants and Grant Cycle III

The Wayne County Foundation is pleased to announce that 21 local organizations have been awarded $212,626 through Grant Cycle III and other third-quarter opportunities. Grants administered through the Foundation’s Grant Cycles are designed to support local programs or projects that enhance the spirit of the community and improve the quality of life across Wayne County.

“There are so many wonderful initiatives in Wayne County,” said Foundation Executive Director Rebecca Gilliam. “We were pleased to be able to offer grant funding to support their success.”

For Grant Cycle III, the Foundation received 23 funding requests totaling more than $266,600. Nineteen organizations were selected for funding and awarded a combined $204,726. During this same time period, the Foundation received and awarded two mini grant requests totaling $7,900. To date in 2023, the Foundation has awarded 54 organizations a total of $538,228 in grantmaking.      

The Wayne County Foundation’s grantmaking is made possible by many individual donors who create funds to support Wayne County. Below is a list of the Grant Cycle III grants awarded through October of 2023.

• Birth to Five ($15,000) to support the Parent as Teachers and Healthy Families programs.
• Boys and Girls Clubs of Wayne County ($14,920) to expand art programming at two Club sites and provide materials to expand art forms used in programs.
• Bridges for Life ($7,500) to continue the free Dinner at the Lamp program.
• Cambridge City Main Street ($11,750) to design and install navigation signs, permanent signage on National Road, traffic management signage, and deploy a digital map and information service for the town.
• Central UMC Preschool and Childcare ($10,665) to support installing a safety and security entrance system.
• Children’s Justice and Advocacy Center, Inc. ($15,000) to educate children about how to respond if faced with situations of abuse and to give adults the skills to create a safer environment for children by preventing, recognizing, and reacting responsibly to child sexual abuse.
• City of Richmond – Richmond Sanitary District ($14,405) to enable RSD staff to learn “How to Conduct a Baseline Data Waste Audit” with training from a professional waste and recycling services organization.
• Cope Environmental Center ($15,000) to expand preschool programming, add and improve Nature Playscape, and develop a self-guided tour option for schools and teachers.
• Gleaners Food Bank of Indiana Inc. ($15,000) to fulfill the needs of families and individuals that fall outside the reach of agency partners in Hagerstown and Richmond.
• Hand-in-Hand Adult Day Center ($15,000) to provide scholarship funding for participants and families that have financial need.
• Joseph Moore Museum ($14,980) to purchase three new enclosures to house five reptiles living at the museum.
• Lifestream Services Inc. ($13,200) to implement the “Proxy Pantry” program serving low-income, homebound seniors.
• Richmond Art Museum ($12,500) to expand and strengthen the Art is…multi-cultural, hands-on, educational program.
• Richmond Community Orchestra ($2,700) to purchase additional new music and pay music licensing fees to add concerts during the solar eclipse weekend in collaboration with Hagerstown High School.
• Richmond Indiana Pickleball, Inc. ($5,986) to make court improvements to increase safety for players and spectators.
• Richmond Symphony Orchestra ($4,920) to support a video reels program with the hiring of a videographer to capture video during rehearsals, concerts, and events.
• Salem Cemetery Association, Inc. ($1,200) to add several signs to help bring more awareness to the cemetery and the grounds.
• Wayne County Cardinal Greenway ($5,000) to remove dead ash trees that are a safety issue along the trail.
• Wayne County Convention and Tourism Bureau, Inc. ($10,000) to support the 2024 Wayne County Murals project.

Below are the organizations awarded mini grants through the Foundation during this same time period. Mini grants are designed to serve smaller projects, short term programs, or unplanned opportunities that require immediate funding.

• National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution ($5,000) for the inaugural year of the Wreaths Across America initiative in Wayne County.
• Sunrise Therapeutic Riding Center ($2,900) to add fencing to create fields based on horses age, size, and temperament.