Challenge Grants Awarded to Red-Flag Response Recipients
Posted in Agency Partners, Donors, Events, Grants, News | March 28th, 2011 | Share on Facebook
CFO Chairman David Pointer distributed $217,000 in ceremonial checks to the recipients of the 2011 Metropolitan Springfield Red-Flag Response grants.
The grants targeted red flags identified in the Community Focus Report for Springfield-Greene County by supporting existing programs that have shown proven results for the community.
Each agency raised funds to match these challenge grants, which means about $434,000 is available to meet these identified needs. The grants were awarded at the same time the CFO announced it has surpassed the $100 million milestone in grants and distributions back to the region.
“When I think about all of the people in the community who are served by this initiative, it really is overwhelming and emotional,” said Nancy Berlin of The Victim Center.
Below is a photo gallery of the grant recipients.
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- Big Brothers/Big Sisters of the Ozarks received $5,000, accepted by Katie Davis and Sophie Pierpont, to support its Meal Time Buddies Program, which provides weekly mentoring with positive adult role models and served 273 children last year.
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- Jana Bachus, Cheryl Doran, Gary Johnson, and Andrea Vent accepted Boys & Girls Town of Missouri’s check for $10,000 to expand assessment and parent education for families with children with emotional and behavioral problems.
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- Liz Dickens, Alicia Hunt, and Jayelee Snowden accept Burrell Behavioral Health’s $10,000 grant to furnish 14 apartments for adults with mental illnesses or histories of homelessness.
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- CASA Director Judy Doverspike, second from right, explained that the $15,000 grant will support training for 37 new volunteers. She accepted with Jennifer Agnew and David Yaktine.
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- Linda Regan, center, who accepted the $14,000 grant with Alex Smith, said it will support with Forensic Interview program, which allows children to disclose their stories to one person while others oversee the interviews behind the scenes.
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- Janice Duncan, Dana Carroll, Janet Dankert, and Maura Taylor accepted a $12,000 grant for Kindergarten Camp, to prepare high-risk pre-schoolers with skills such as paying attention, waiting in line, and reading.
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- Mike Cherry, right, accepted Consumer Credit Counseling’s $12,000 grant with Denise Bench and Tonya Collister. He said counseling services to preserve home ownership for capable clients meant 980 families didn’t lose their homes last year.
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- Mark Struckhoff, right, accepting for the Council of Churches with Christine Moses, said the $2,902 grant will be used for rent assistance in the Crosslines program, which had 100,000 service contacts last year.
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- Julie Conway said the $6,000 grant to Good Samaritan Boys Ranch is for furnishings at a new 20-bed transitional home preparing boys leaving foster care to live on their own when they won’t be eligible for state assistance any more.
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- Kristy Nelson with Habitat for Humanity said the $10,000 grant will go toward its “Recycle for Homes” project to create a southwest Springfield recycling center with proceeds used to build Habitat homes.
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- Danielle Conti and Rodney Dwyer accepted the $15,000 grant to Harmony House, which provides a supportive environment, shelter and education to women and children who have survived domestic abuse.
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- Dr. Janie Vestal accepted a $15,000 for The Kitchen Clinic’s general operating costs to provide a “health-care home” for some 2,000 patients a year. “It’s not a stretch to say the clinic would not exist without the support of our community,” she said.
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- Pat Dierking, Carol Cruise, Chris Valley, Ralph Ernest, and Bob Vienhage accepted $10,000 on behalf of the Kiwanis Foundation of Downtown Springfield to create a special-needs play center. This grant brings them within $10,000 of the $100,000 goal.
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- Erica Harris, Dana Carroll, Kate Schank, Michael Overton, and Rob Baird accepted $11,000 for the Lighthouse Child & Family Development Center to serve more parents of pre-schoolers interested in its mission of family self-sufficiency through in-depth involvement in their kids’ schooling.
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- The Ozarks Food Harvest received $15,000 for its Weekend Backpack Program. Said Bart Brown, who accepted with Denise Gibson: “On Monday mornings these kids come to school and get to be kids, and not hungry.”
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- Accepting $10,000 for the Ozarks Literacy Council’s pre-literacy and Wonder Years programs serving about 700 children and families, Kathy Pinkley said “a lot of times these are the only books the children have.”
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- Rhoda Clark and Keith Morris accepted the $15,000 grant to Ozarks Regional YMCA for the Strong Kids Financial Aid Program, which Morris said “builds happy, healthy children” through nutrition and exercise in the after-school program.
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- Bonnie Keller, right, accepting $15,000 with Mindy Munoz for the Ronald McDonald House Tooth Truck, recalled that the CFO provided the very first grant for the project nine years ago. “The most important thing the Tooth Truck does is raise the self esteem of every child it sees.”
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- Nancy Berlin, Shelly Evan, and Joel Alexander accepted a $15,000 grant to The Victim Center for its existing prevention education programs that educated 15,178 children and adults last year on identifying signs of child abuse and neglect.
