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Foundation
awards grants
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The DeKalb County Community Foundation presented nearly $50,000 in grants to area organizations at its fall grantee reception Thursday night at Rieke Park Lodge in Auburn. In front, from left, are Beka Graber of Beka’s Bread Brigade, Debbie Treesh of Farmers and Hunters Feeding the Hungry and Rachel Tobin-Smith of the Child Advocacy Center. In the middle row, from left, are Sherry Hanchar of Butler Early Education, Linda Gehl of Auburn Presbyterian Church, Kari Minch of DeKalb County Special Olympics, Jami Koble, and Linda Spear of St. Joseph School. In back, from left, are Cindy Snyder of the Filling Station Youth Center, Matt Rice of Serenity House, Tammy Stafford of St. Martin’s Health Care Clinic, John Chalmers of DeKalb Outdoor Theater, Amy Hart of Waterloo Elementary School and Leslie Raymer of Four County Area Vocational Cooperative. (Photo by Lindsay Winslow Brown)
AUBURN — Christmas came early for several area groups who
received checks at the DeKalb County Community Foundation’s fall grantee
reception Thursday night at Rieke Park Lodge in Auburn.
The foundation granted nearly $50,000 to help organizations feed the hungry,
promote healthy lifestyles, help children learn to read and maintain buildings.
Wendy Oberlin, the foundation’s executive director, said she was excited to
give funds to the county’s various nonprofit organizations, but said grant
dollars would be limited in 2009 due to the decline in the economy and
instability of the stock market. She added that the foundation probably would
not have two grant cycles in 2009.
The foundation presented $6,000 grants to the Auburn Presbyterian Women for
kitchen renovations, the DeKalb County Outdoor Theater Board Inc. for fencing
that will provide safety and security for the theater area and the Four County
Area Vocational Cooperative for the Get There! program, a program offering high
school sophomores and juniors the opportunity to obtain college credits.
Linda Gehl of the Auburn Presbyterian Church said the women have been serving
150 to 176 people each week at the church’s Friends Table, and she expects
numbers to rise. The kitchen also serves area Scouts, clubs and alcohol recovery
groups.
“The kitchen probably serves others more than it serves our church,” Gehl
said.
John Chalmers of the outdoor theater board said he hopes the theater will open
in late May 2009, but the date is only a projection.
The foundation used $5,000 to start an immediate response fund, which will
address nonprofit needs that may arise between grant cycles or funds that might
be needed during a community disaster. Oberlin said many organizations approach
the foundation about needing funding between cycles, and she didn’t like
having to tell them no funds were available. She also saw how community
foundations in the southern part of the state were not able to help in their
communities after devastating flooding earlier this year.
The foundation presented Rachel Tobin-Smith of the Child Advocacy Center with
$2,500, which will be used toward the cost of forensic interviews of children
alleging sexual abuse. Tobin-Smith added that 90 children have been served in
DeKalb County in 2008, and 3,400 area children have been served since the
center’s opening. She said the organization is looking into opening an office
in Garrett in the future.
Beka Graber of Beka’s Bread Brigade received $2,000 for an endowment fund that
will provide fresh bread to the Community of Caring Food Pantry, and a brigade
of friends came in support of the Canterbury High School senior and Auburn
resident. Graber hopes to raise $20,000 in the next two years and $100,000 by
2019. She shared that she will be heading to college next year and wanted to
leave not only her legacy but the ability to buy bread in DeKalb County.
Grants awarded by the DeKalb County Community Foundation for fall 2008 totaled
$47,075.
Other grants were awarded to:
• $2,225 to Butler Early Education for building and bus repairs;
• $2,000 for Special Olympics of DeKalb County;
• $4,000 for Farmers and Hunters Feeding the Hungry for processing donated
meat from hunters and farmers, which is distributed throughout DeKalb County by
Community Harvest Food Bank;
• $850 to the Fort Wayne Philharmonic Orchestra for a Holiday Pops
presentation in DeKalb County;
• $3,000 to Garrett-Keyser-Butler Community Head Start for staff development
trainings;
• $1,000 to Mental Health America of DeKalb County for a seminar on topics
including ADD/ADHD, managing child behavior, raising teenagers, how to deal with
children and divorce and drug/alcohol concerns;
• $1,500 to St. Martin’s Community Kitchen for meat for meals served to the
community;
• $1,000 to SCAN Inc. for Prevention Through Education workshops in DeKalb
County; and
• $4,000 to Serenity House Inc., to reroof its men’s facility and remove an
unused chimney.
