Fifteen Mid-Shore non-profits will receive checks totaling $33,220 at the Women & Girls Fund’s tenth anniversary annual spring luncheon on April 29, at the Tidewater Inn in Easton, giving a boost to a range of programs that benefit women, girls and families.
This year’s grants, for programs that operate in one or more of the Mid-Shore counties—Talbot, Queen Anne’s, Dorchester, Caroline and Kent—will raise the Fund’s ten-year distribution total to more than $340,000, and because five of the 15 organizations are getting Fund grants for the first time, the ten-year total of beneficiary organizations will climb to 58.
“Here in our tenth year we celebrate a decade of growth, collaboration, and commitment to our mission,” said Beth Spurry, president of the Women & Girls Fund. “The 2013 grants that will go to five new applicants and ten non-profits that have won Women & Girls Fund gifts at least once before provide a wide range of services.”
First-time grant recipients are the Chesapeake Multicultural Resource Center; Community Mediation Upper Shore; Corsica River Mental Health Services and Crossroads Community; Partners in Care; and Rebuilding Together Kent County.
Repeat recipients are CASA of Queen Anne’s and Kent Counties; Dixon House Independent and Assisted Living; Healthy Families Queen Anne’s/Talbot; Homeports; Ladies of Nia; Mid Shore Community Mediation Center; New Beginnings Youth and Family Services; Page Turners; Phillips Wharf Environmental Center; and Rebuilding Together Caroline County.
The programs that will get a boost from Fund grants this year are wide-ranging, benefitting young children and the elderly, teens and young adults, an environmental education program, first-time mothers, those with mental health needs, families that need help navigating family courts and the child welfare system, and immigrant parents.
This year, 21 volunteers researched nearly 30 applications before making their recommendations to the Fund’s board for final approval, an effort that took just over three months.
“The time, efforts, and dedication of our grant readers never ceases to impress me,” said Spurry. “Whether a grant is large or small, the visits, interviews and grant application reviews are addressed with a real commitment to getting it right.”
“I think all grant readers would agree that it is exciting to discover how many creative initiatives people are putting in place to help where help is needed,” said Pat Bradley, co-chair of the Women & Girls Fund Grants Committee.
CASA of Queen Anne’s and Kent counties will use its Fund grant for a new program called Fostering Futures, which will help teens and young adults who are about to leave foster care learn skills they will need as they make the transition into life on their own. The Mid Shore Community Mediation Center, meanwhile, has begun an education program for stakeholders in the child welfare system.
Healthy Partners Queen Anne’s/Talbot will use its money for a program aimed at reducing the risk of child abuse and neglect by giving first-time parents in stressful situations skills to be good parents, while New Beginnings in Dorchester County will add instrumental music and improved art programs to its after-school curriculum.
Rebuilding Together in Kent and Caroline Counties will make repairs and improvements to local homes to keep female homeowners in their houses, while HomePorts (Kent County) and Partners in Care (Talbot County) will offer practical support for low-income older women who want to keep living in their homes.
And the Chesapeake Multicultural Resource Center, which serves Talbot County’s immigrant community, will use its grant on a program called “Parenting for Academic Success,” designed to help parents who don’t speak English learn how they can help their children succeed in school.
“We are so pleased to be able to support innovative new programs that improve the lives of women and girls on the Mid-Shore,” Beth Spurry said. “The work that these organizations do is truly transformative to the women, girls, and communities they serve. We are so proud to be a small part of that work.”
In addition to handing out grant checks at the April 29th luncheon, the Fund will present the annual Women & Girls Fund Award to the five women who founded For All Seasons, Joy Price, Kathleen Francis, Maureen Jacobs, Janet Pfeffer, and Nancy Wilson.
It was Price, a master’s degree candidate at the University of Maryland School of Social Work, who proposed the idea of establishing an organization in a rural community dedicated to the support of victims of sexual abuse. Her professor, who approved the project, was Nancy Wilson.
Begun as a non-profit agency in Easton that would provide victims of sexual abuse and rape advocates and mental health services, regardless of their ability to pay, For All Seasons today has a staff of more than 30 professionals who offer a wide range of mental health services as well as support for victims of sexual violence and other traumas in all five Mid-Shore counties.
The Spring Luncheon is open to the public. For further information about the luncheon, and about the Women & Girls Fund, call 410-770-8347, email [email protected] or visit www.womenandgirlsfund.org.
Grants support programs that benefit women, girls & families
Write a Letter to the Editor on this Article
We encourage readers to offer their point of view on this article by submitting the following form. Editing is sometimes necessary and is done at the discretion of the editorial staff.