Life

Community Foundation awards $134K in grants

By Bill Moss, Published: May 16, 2012

The Community Foundation of Henderson County announced this week it had awarded $134,000 in grants to assist area organizations and special projects.

Pisgah Legal Services in collaboration with the Hendersonville Rescue Mission has implemented a program known a SOAR (SSI/SSDI Outreach, Access and Recovery).

The national modeled program is designed to assist homeless individuals, over half of whom are suffering from behavioral disorders, to apply for Supplemental Security Income and Social Security Disability. Once successfully enrolled in these services, clients are better able to meet their basic needs and improve their mental and physical health with access to income, medication, support services and housing.

Based on the knowledge these individuals will receive this assistance for a number of years, the estimated benefit for two clients is more than $708,000. With a grant investment of up to $45,878 the return on investment (ROI) for just two clients is 15:1. The ROI does not include any savings associated with local government and medical providers due to the individuals living situations, mental health and medical conditions stabilizing with primary care, medicine and housing. Additionally, jail expenses, emergency department, and law enforcement will also experience cost savings as these individuals suffer less and enjoy a stable lifestyle.

The Community Foundation of Henderson County awarded the following grants as well in its competitive process:

• Carolina Concert Choir: $3,000 to be used to further the opportunities for High School Students to participate in a countywide High School Honor Chorus.
• Carolina Mountain Land Conservancy: $4,000 to be used to establish an Arboretum on the Ironwood Square property.
• Community Partnership for Pets: $10,000 to be used to spay and neuter animals from the northeast section of Henderson County, where a high population of lower income families live with unaltered pets.
• Environmental Conservation Organization (ECO): $18,000 to educate the community and advocate with policymakers about the need for changes related to water protection, improved land management slopes and runoff control.
• MANNA FoodBank: $10,000 to provide supplemental nutrition assistance to identified children at risk of hunger via the MANNA Packs project in Henderson County.
• Mainstay: $25,000 to increase the coordination of services for victims of family violence by adding a part-time victim advocate who would be dispatched to the Courthouse or Sheriff's Office to assist victims and who will form a Domestic Violence Task Force for Henderson County.
• Medical Loan Closet: $6,500 to purchase and install a software system that will help monitor and track medical equipment loans and expedite the generation of loan contracts.
• Sixth Avenue West Psychiatric Rehabilitation Partners: Up to $10,000 to be used for a Strategic Planning process which will deliver a strategic plan, a marketing plan and a development plan for this nonprofit.
• WNC AIDS project: $2,500 to be used to plan and implement three health outreach events at migrant/seasonal farmworker camps in Henderson County.
• Community Foundation grants support nonprofit organizations that improve healthcare and educational opportunities, provide services to people in need, strengthen the arts, protect the environment, and much more. To learn more about the Community Foundation's unrestricted grantmaking program or how to make a contribution to an unrestricted fund, contact the Community Foundation office (828) 697-6224.

In the past 30 years, over 480 individuals, families and organizations have established funds at the Community Foundation of Henderson County to carry out their charitable giving, now and in the future. To learn more, visit www.CFHCforever.org.