CHARITABLE GRANT RECIPIENTS FOR 2011 ANNOUNCED
Club's annual "Lobsterfest" shares $20,000 with 12 area not-for-profit organizations
Bettendorf, IA - The Charitable Giving Board of Bettendorf Rotary Club announces the award of a total of $20,000 to 12 not-for-profit organizations that serve the Quad City community.
This is the fourth year that funds generated from the club's annual Lobsterfest in June have created the philanthropy fund that the Bettendorf Rotary Charitable Giving Board disburses. There will also be $6,000 in scholarships to graduates pursuing higher education. These awards are chosen by the participating educational institutions - Bettendorf and Pleasant Valley high schools, Rivermont Collegiate and Scott Community College.
"We received 30 grant requests for amounts totaling $60,202.35," said Jeff Hassel, Chair of the BRC Charitable Giving Board. "As always, the programs present worthy opportunities for funding and the choices are difficult. The total amount awarded represented 33% of the final amount requested. We hope our next 'Lobsterfest' on June 16th enables us to reach this level of support for 2012."
(A complete list of the 12 grant recipients for 2011 follows below.)
Individual grants of as much as $2,500 are available to any qualified non-profit organization in the Quad Cities. The application deadline is October 1st. Applications are available to download at
www.bettendorfrotary.com. Completed requests must then be postmarked by October 1st and sent to: Bettendorf Rotary Club, PO Box 133, Bettendorf, IA, 52722. Applications can also be obtained by mailing a request to the same address.
Grants are not awarded to groups for annual fundraising, organizational endowment funds, deficit financing, grants to individuals, scholarship funds, political groups or activities, Rotarians and their families or for sectarian purposes. Organizations that receive funds in a funding cycle are not eligible for awards the following year. Applications are reviewed and awarded by the Bettendorf Rotary's Charitable Giving Board with funds located at the Community Foundation of the Great River Bend.
The Bettendorf Rotary Club (
www.bettendorfrotary.com), chartered on May 22, 1957, has more than 100 members fulfilling the Rotary motto of "Service Above Self" in a variety of local, regional and national community volunteer projects. The club meets each Wednesday at Noon at Fortune Garden Restaurant, 2211 Kimberly Road, Bettendorf. In addition to the website, you can find the club on Facebook (
www.facebook.com/bettendorfrotary).
Bettendorf Rotary Club is part of Rotary International (
www.rotary.org), founded in 1905 by Paul Harris, a Chicago businessman and University of Iowa alumnus. The international organization, now based in Evanston, IL, has more than one million members participating with 32,000 clubs located in more than 200 countries.
The following are the 12 grants that the Bettendorf Rotary Charitable Giving Board selected and had approved by the Bettendorf Rotary Club's Executive Board for funding in 2011:
Big Brothers Big Sisters
BBBS will mentor 55 children this year within three elementary schools in Bettendorf.
Amount funded - $2,000
Central Community Circle Food Pantry
The Central Community Circle Food Pantry would like to include milk and eggs in the emergency food baskets clients receive every 30 days.
Amount funded - $1,270
Family Resources
Restore and renovate the historic (1921) Orphanage Gymnasium on the Wittenmyer Youth Campus to serve the 300+ at-risk and special needs residential children of our local communities.
Amount funded - $2,000
Hand In Hand
Hand In Hand is expanding its programs at 3860 Middle Road in Bettendorf to serve more children with disabilities in the Quad Cities.
Amount funded - $2,400
Handicapped Development Center
To maintain good health for individuals at HDC, this request is to obtain the following items: an otoscope, and oxygen concentrator and a suction machine.
Amount funded - $1,280
Humane Society of Scott County
HSSC educational programs provide presentations on animal care, pet overpopulation and shelter pet adoption. This project supports improved public access to these programs.
Amount funded - $500
Junior Achievement of the Heartland
The implementation of Junior Achievement's core-mission programs at Edison Academy aimed at increasing student awareness about the importance of staying in school.
Amount funded - $2,400
New Hope Presbyterian Church
The New Hope Presbyterian Church Food Pantry serves as a mission to the community of Northwest Davenport by providing food to the needy.
Amount funded - $1,250
Punch/First Baptist Church
PUNCH will contract with Overbeck Construction to provide caulking and weather-stripping for homes in the neighborhoods it serves from Locust Street South to 12th Street and from Harrison Street East to Farnam.
Amount funded - $1,000
Quad City Human Trafficking Project
Provide training targeting minors and organizations that serve minors increase awareness of the issue of modern human slavery as well as the vulnerability of minors to sex trafficking.
Amount funded - $1,000
River Music Experience
Creation of a Music Club called "Acoustic" - geared towards individuals in their late teens to twenties with special needs, as a collaborative effort between The River Music Experience and West Music Therapy.
Amount funded - $2,400
Supplemental Emergency Assistance Program (SEAP)
SEAP member agencies work together to help clients with crisis financial needs. Case work is done. When a legitimate need is identified, SEAP funds are accessed.
Amount funded - $2,500
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