ITHACA, N.Y. — The Rotary Club of Ithaca has awarded nearly $15,000 in grants to 15 community nonprofits. The funding comes from $10,000 members donated at weekly club meetings along with a $5,000 gift from an anonymous donor.
“These grants help our local agencies meet their missions,” Kelly Buck, a Rotary member who co-chaired the program, said in a press release. “And we try and spread out Rotary grant money across a range of needs.”
The annual program provides grants of up to $1,000 to community organizations evaluated by a six-member committee.
The 2022 grant recipients are:
- Alcohol and Drug Council of Tompkins County, $995 for the purchase of 1,000 fentanyl test strips
- Catholic Charities, $1,000 to purchase new shoes for 30 children
- Civic Ensemble, $1,000 to partner with the Sciencenter to host a theater residency
- Communitas ALC, $1,000 for supplies for the youth Tompkins Magical Carts Collective
- Downtown Ithaca Children’s Center, $793 for building improvements
- Family Reading Partnership, $1,000 to purchase children’s books
- Finger Lakes Independence Center, $1,000 for a modular aluminum ramp for the home of an individual with a disability
- Habitat for Humanity, $1,000 to purchase ladders, a saw, and work platforms to equip job sites
- Hospice & Palliative Care Services of TC, $1,000 to create a food wishes fund
- Ithaca Murals and Southside Community Center, $1,000 to support Black artists working on the Underground Railroad mural on Green Street
- Mental Health Association of Tompkins County, $1,000 to purchase a Meeting Owl virtual meeting technology device
- Southworth Library Association, $725 for the lunch and learn workshop series
- Stablework Corporation, $1,000 to purchase materials to train residents in animal care and create products to sell at the Ithaca Farmers Market
- Sustainable Finger Lakes, Inc., $995 to purchase a video camera, tripod, and editing software
- Varna Community Association, Inc., $1,000 to create and install signage for a new trail system
The grants are intended to promote the quality of life in Tompkins County and the greater Ithaca area and support organizations with special projects or needs that are not funded by general funding sources.