Creswell First! 2018 Community Services Grants
Creswell First! President Steve Carmichael has been diligent in reporting to city council regarding grant awards made by the nonprofit, and wrapped up the list of contributions at last week’s city council work session. The nonprofit was tasked with awarding grants to helpful projects in The Friendly City and was created to ensure that qualifying short-term or long-term projects can exist under their nonprofit umbrella.
Below is a list of the 2018 Community Service Grants awards:
Community Food for Creswell in the amount of $1,764.
This is a local food pantry program that partners with Food for Lane County and Oregon Food Bank. It provides three free five-day boxes up to 16 times per year to low-income families in Creswell. This year’s award provides funding to upgrade Creswell Food Pantry’s walk-in cooler shelf system, allowing for improved storage capacity and better food organization. Other kitchen equipment will also be purchased along with furniture and an office copier. Our local food pantry is a critical resource for families without enough food.
WomenSpace Inc. in the amount of $2,326.
This is a program that provides direct client aid for Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) survivors in Creswell. The city funds are used for a program providing basic needs to survivors of domestic violence and their children. Last year, they served 92 Creswell residents with their crisis line, support groups, walk-in, shelter and rural advocates. With the city funds they were able to provide financial support for seven of those residents. They helped pay for rent, bus passes, utilities and phone services. In addition, they matched the city funds with other funds to provide direct client assistance totalling $5,920.
Creswell Food4Kids for the amount of $1,500.
This is a local program focusing on feeding Creswell students. The funds are used to help with the Food4Kids Weekend Food program. The Creswell Food4Kids program is a vital source of food for needy, hungry children within our community. With this grant, Creswell First! provides food for an entire weekend for over 70 children within the Creswell School District each and every week that they are in school. Without the grant, many of our children would go without sufficient food over weekends and school breaks. The program purchases food that children can easily prepare by themselves because many are left without help. Every Friday, the program ensures that a child is given enough food for two breakfasts, snacks and entrees, as well as a loaf of bread. Food costs $1,000 to $2,000 each month. There are no paid staff, as all work is done by volunteers.
Creswell Clubhouse in the amount of $500.
This program has a mission of providing an afterschool program where young people practice reading skills, receive help with homework, utilize computers and participates in educationally enriching activities. Many families cannot afford the fees necessary to support the program and these children need scholarships to cover part of the cost. School counselors and the school principal help identify children that are in special need of the program and in need of scholarship support. The city funds will be used to support the scholarship fund.
Creswell Family Relief Nursery in the amount of $2,500.
Family Relief Nursery’s Creswell Therapeutic Early Childhood Classroom opened in September 2016. The class is able to serve 17 children from the Creswell area who are at risk for child abuse and neglect. Funds from Creswell First! will be used to purchase a safe outside play structure for children aged 1 to 4 years old. No outside play structure for this age group is currently available at Creslane Elementary School. Many students do not have outside play opportunities where they live. The FRN therapeutic model requires outside play every day and this is required under the Oregon Association of Relief Nursery Certification.
Creswell Elementary Parent Teacher Organization in the amount of $2,500.
Funding was approved to support a Garden Education Project. Elementary children will cultivate a love of learning to grow healthy food. Every subject taught in the classroom can be highlighted and enhanced via a school garden. Language arts can be taught through poems constructed via observation in the garden, math through planting and harvest calculation, science in tracking weather and seasonal patterns, social studies through heirloom plants or historical culinary plants from around the world, and art through botanical illustration projects. The garden will be planned, built and in use this spring.
City of Creswell in the amount of $2,500.
Funding was requested for the projected Cobalt Activity Center’s community commercial kitchen. Creswell First! strongly supports the development of the kitchen for the purpose of feeding low-income families, teaching them how to cook nutritious meals and how to preserve food. Creswell First! acknowledges that the total cost of creating the kitchen will far exceed their contribution, but wanted to go on record as Creswell’s local foundation in supporting the project. Their maximum award amount is $2,5000 and are committing that to the project. Creswell First! wants to see the kitchen created and in use in the community.
Creswell High School in the amount of $2,500.
Creswell First! supported the school’s recent ”Every 15 Minutes” drunk driving prevention and awareness program, in which 22 students were involved in a mock accident and transported to an offsite location. At the event, there was also a hands-on driving simulator for two days, which continued the education around safe driving. There is a recording available on YouTube of this event.
Note: Creswell at Home applied for an award in December. The application was not chosen for funding at the time and Creswell First! met with Program Director Helen Hollyer in a follow-up session. Creswell at Home has since stopped providing services and is filing for dissolution of the organization. Creswell First! thanks Creswell at Home for their service to the seniors in the community that needed assistance to continue living in their own homes. Creswell First! especially thanks Hollyer, who led the development and operation of the program.
