Rotary Club of Ithaca awards community grants

ITHACA, N.Y. —The Rotary Club of Ithaca recently awarded $10,000 in grants to 11 community nonprofits for a variety of projects, according to a news release from the organization.

The Rotary Club received 28 applications this year for its annual community grants program. A seven-member committee evaluated the proposals and selected the final projects.

The grants of up to $1,000 are intended to promote the quality of life in Tompkins County and the greater Ithaca area and support organizations with special projects or needs not funded by general funding sources.

“Our goal is to fully fund a local agency’s project,” grant program co-chair Kelly Buck said in the release. “The grants are not huge, but they really help our nonprofits meet their mission.”

The 11 grant recipients are:

• Brooktondale Community Center, Inc. — $1,000 to construct an awning over the center’s handicapped ramp

• Cayuga Lake Watershed Network — $1,000 to extend a litter cleanup program by offering cleanup kits on loan to community groups to pick up trash along the shoreline and waterways in the watershed

• Community Science Institute — $1,000 to purchase a new printer to produce materials for volunteers, lake-monitoring programs, and educational materials for the public

• Enfield Community Council — $930 to construct a rainwater irrigation system to support its community garden

• Family and Children’s Services — $1,000 to purchase a mobile play-therapy kit to expand treatment for all its clinical offices

• Foodnet Meals on Wheels — $520 to purchase equipment to aid in the packaging and delivery of food and two security cameras for its facility

• Free Science Workshop — $1,000 to support outreach programming to bring science discovery to area youth

• Jacksonville Community Association — $1,000 to buy an ADA-compliant picnic table for the Jacksonville park

• The Learning Web — $1,000 to purchase men’s bathing and hygiene supplies and staples for emergency food needs

• Tompkins Learning Partners, Inc. — $600 to purchase an iPad and digital practice tests for students preparing to take the GED test

• Women’s Opportunity Center — $950 to support local activities to end gender-based violence against women as part of the United Nations’ 16 Days of Activism Campaign

Jan Bridgeford-Smith, executive director of the Women’s Opportunity Center, said the grant will allow the agency to run radio ads tying in with the United Nations campaign.

“This is the first time that we’re doing a campaign like this,” she said. “Even though it’s not a lot of money, it kind of seals the deal with our ability to create this program.”

The grant recipients were honored at the Rotary Club’s Oct. 18 meeting.