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| FOUNDATION ANNOUNCES $30,000 IN GRANTS AT RECENT BUSINESS AFTER HOURS EVENT |
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The Morton Community Foundation (MCF) recently completed its review of grant requests submitted for the Spring Grant Cycle 2010. The MCF Grant Committee reviewed the requests to determine how well they met the grant objectives of the Foundation, areas of greatest need and areas of greatest impact to our community and its residents.
Thursday night, April 22, the MCF hosted the Chamber’s Business After Hours event in the lobby of the Bertha Frank Performing Arts Center. Organizations that were to receive grants were in attendance to be recognized with their respective grants. Sixteen area organizations received grants of anywhere from $1,000 to just under $4,000 each.
Following is a list of the grants approved by the Grant Committee for the Spring 2010 Grant Cycle:
- $2,250 to Central Illinois Riding Therapy toward purchase of a Gator to help with hauling, snow removal & fast access to trails.
- $1,000 to Apostolic Christian Services toward the purchase of a Double Bench Surrey for exercise & transportation of residents.
- $1,150 to Central Illinois Youth Symphony toward the purchase of reusable music for the preparatory strings program.
- $3,880 to Community Harvest to purchase a commercial refrigerator, pallets & pallet jack for use on their food pantry program.
- $1,500 to South Side Mission’s Mission Mart in Morton for the purchase of 2 laptops to be used for the retail store operations.
- $2,000 to Morton Jr High toward purchase of cherry & gray wall mats in the gymnasium.
- $3,000 to Morton Girls Softball Association toward purchase of additional lighting for a softball field at Birchwood Park.
- $2,000 to Morton High School toward the purchase of Kindles electronic book readers for the Novels classes.
- $1,000 to Morton Orchestra Parents (M.O.P) to purchase a violin for use by students whose parents cannot afford a violin.
- $2,000 to the Morton Public Library toward the purchase of furniture for a new teen area in the library.
- $1,000 to the Morton Chamber of Commerce toward the purchase of recycling containers to be used at Pumpkin Festival.
- $3,500 to the Morton High School band toward the purchase of portable acoustic shell sections to be used for performances.
- $1,250 to Morton Youth Baseball Assoc. (MYBA) toward the purchase of a mower for Lion’s Field.
- $1,000 to TCRC toward the purchase of Sensory Room materials to help people with profound disabilities to learn to control their environment, to communicate and to explore.
- $1,000 to the Morton Tourism Assoc. toward purchase of additional commercial grade flower planters to allow expansion of their beautification program to other areas in our community.
- $2,500 to the Morton Chamber and Morton Tourism Assoc. toward the new Morton entryway sign project.
The MCF awards grants to local charitable, nonprofit organizations with tax-exempt classification from the Internal Revenue Service; or tax-supported institutions such as schools or government agencies that have an impact in the Morton area. Despite difficult economic times, the Morton Community Foundation is pleased to provide just over $30,000 this year for grants and an additional $6,000 in memorial scholarships. This grant total is the largest ever and brings the grant total to over $154,000 since the MCF’s inception in the year 2000.
These grants are made possible by the generous gifts of Morton residents who have donated to the Foundation’s permanent endowment funds, as well as by those who have set up scholarship funds in memory of loved ones who have passed away. Those funds have been invested, and a portion of annual earnings are distributed each year by the Board of Trustees, based on recommendations from a Grant Committee made up of community leaders. Any additional annual earnings, above the portion used for grants, are added to the endowment to help it grow and increase the level of future grants.
More information is available on the Foundation’s website, www.mortoncommunityfoundation.org. The website has information about the Foundation’s purpose, history, upcoming events, and grant process, and will eventually is a tremendous source of information on philanthropy, tax benefits, online donations, photos of events and funded projects, etc.
The Morton Community Foundation was formed to provide a centralized philanthropic endowment to meet future needs of the Morton community. MCF is an independent nonprofit corporation governed by a Board of Trustees comprised of thirteen Morton business and professional leaders. Operations are conducted by a full time Executive Director, Scott Witzig, the volunteer Board of Directors and volunteer committee members from our community.
For more information about the Morton Community Foundation, call 309-291-0434 or visit www.mortoncommunityfoundation.org. |
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