Out of the 9 grants received this time, the three of us that review them each had good reason to approve almost all of them. It's so hard to decide when our community is filled with awesome organizations working for it's most vulnerable members. Once again it came down to which request was for a tangible effort and whether or not the money would go towards directly helping someone in need. Ultimately we decided on awarding our three grants to:
*Child Advocacy Center for microphone equipment necessary to conduct recorded Forensic Interviews used in child abuse investigations.
*Peaceful Paths for gas cards to assist their clients in getting to mandatory appointments so they can more easily complete tasks to receive housing, child care and job referrals.
*The Children's Table in order to reach their goal of purchasing a refrigerator truck to enable them to accept donations of frozen meats, dairy products and other perishable food to distribute to agencies such as; The Upper Room, Interface, DCF, Meridian Behavioral Services, Jesus Christian Center, Dome of Resources, Honor Center for wounded veterans and Gainesville Veteran Medical Center.
If you've been awarded a grant, checks will be mailed next week. Please follow up by providing us with pictures of your progress towards your goal so that I can post them to this blog.
We were very pleased with all grant proposals and wish we could help more. If you didn't receive a grant, please consider resubmitting for the next round of grants due on September 30, 2011. And please stay in touch and let us know if we can help you achieve your goals in any other way.
