Perry County Community Foundation Awards Over $28,000 at Grants Award Luncheon

The Perry County Community Foundation handed out checks totaling more than $28,000 at its Grant Awards Luncheon on December 8^th. The Grant Awards Luncheon - held at the Evangelical United Church of Christ Fellowship Hall - is an event hosted by the Foundation to recognize donors and the accomplishments made possible through their generosity.

"Any individual or business who has been a donor to the foundation has helped build the endowments that allow for our grants program," stated Grants Committee Chair, Joe Malone. "It is through our donors that we are successful."

Funding for these grants was made possible by the Friends of Perry County Fund and the TCB Bank/Fifth Third Bank Fund, both of which are unrestricted. Donors who contribute to or create unrestricted funds give grantmaking discretion to the Foundation, allowing grants to be awarded based on the greatest needs in the community.

Five field-of-interest funds also contributed to this year's grantmaking: the Crippled Children's Fund, which supports projects that serve disabled children; the Goble-Kleeman Fund for Young Children, which supports early childhood education and child care projects; the Ewing Environmental Fund, which supports environmental projects; the Perry County Arts Fund, which support the Arts-related programs and activities; and the Joseph L. Dauby Endowment Fund, which supports civic endeavors in Tell City. Field-of-interest funds allow donors to direct support to a broader area of importance to them, like the environment, or to a specific geographic area, like Tell City.

The following organizations received grants from the Foundation this year:

Agape' Community Church - $4,000 to continue the backpack program to feed needy and hungry children in our school systems for the 2009-2010 school year. 

American Red Cross of Perry County - $1,000 to provide emergency and disaster relief for Perry County residents.

Cannelton Public Schools - $500 to support "The League" philanthropy program at the school. 

Evansville Philharmonic Orchestral Group - $200 to underwrite the admission costs for Perry County students to attend the Young People's Concert in the Spring 2010. 

Lincoln Hills Development Corporation - $1,000 to provide training opportunities and professional development materials for staff in the Healthy Families Perry County Program.

Perry Central Community Schools - $800 to support "The League" philanthropy program at the school. 

Perry County Agriculture Extension Committee/4H Fairgrounds Committee - $1,000 for the creation of a new access road to the Perry County 4-H Fairgrounds.

Perry County Greenway- United Way of Perry County - $1,104.45 as a matching grant for the Tell City bike lane project.

Perry County Learning Partnership - $618 to provide operational support for programs and trainings at the Community Learning Center.

Perry County Old Courthouse Museum - $200 to purchase supplies to renovate the bathrooms at the museum. 

Perry County Power of Youth Nonpermanent Fund - $1,363 to promote youth philanthropy in Perry County.

Rome Community Center, Inc. - $1,500 to repair the Cupola on the historic Old Perry County Courthouse at Rome.  

Southern Hills Counseling Center, Inc. - $1,314.55 to purchase play therapy toys and equipment for the play therapy room in Tell City.

Special Olympics Indiana - Perry County - $725 to purchase supplies and equipment for the athletes to use in sporting activities.

Tell City-Perry County Public Library - $500 for the transcriptions of oral histories for the Perry County Oral Histories project.

Tell City-Troy Township School Corp. - $800 to support "The League" philanthropy program at the school. 

The Salvation Army Perry County Service Extension Unit - $2,000 to provide emergency assistance to Perry County residents in need.

Tri-County Special Needs Support Group - $2,378 to provide educational seminar and community outings for families with special neens children.

Tri-County YMCA - $2,000 to provide operational support for the summer camp program in Perry County.

United Way of Perry County - $1,500 to support the Dolly Parton Imagination Library program in Perry County.

Visiting Nurse Association of Southwestern Indiana, Inc. - $2,760 for two rental monitors for home care patient use through the Telehealth Monitoring Program in Perry County.

Widow's Barrel Food Pantry of Community Christian Fellowship of IN, Inc. - $1,200 to purchase new refrigerators for the food pantry.

The Foundation's ability to serve these and other nonprofit organizations rests on its ability to maintain and strengthen gifts to our family of funds.  We are only successful through our donor's efforts to make Perry County a better place to live.  For more information on how you can help our community, contact director Sally Houzanme at 812-547-3176 or e-mail at sallyh@perrycommunityfoundaton.org. The Perry County Community Foundation is a fund of the Community Foundation Alliance, Inc., in Evansville.