Junior League of Columbia Announces Community Enrichment Grant Recipients

January 13, 2015

JLC Awards $114,800 in Community Enrichment Grants to Local Nonprofits

COLUMBIA, SC – The Junior League of Columbia (JLC) has invested $114,800 in the Midlands community through Community Enrichment Grants awarded to 12 local nonprofits. The grants consist of $69,800 in one-time funding and a $45,000 gift to the Autism Academy of South Carolina that is the second part of an award made during the 2013-2014 League year. The grants fall in line with the JLC’s vision of improving the health and well-being of children and their families in the Midlands, and are separate from the annual investment the League makes through its community programs and partnerships.

“The Junior League of Columbia has a rich 90-year history of making a difference in the Midlands community,” said Ginny Hairston, President of the JLC. “We are proud to invest in these twelve local nonprofits through our Community Enrichment Grants and look forward to a future where the League continues to have a positive impact on the Midlands community.”

Community Enrichment Grant recipients include:

    • Palmetto Project ($5,000): Funds will be used to support My First Books, a program where eligible children from birth to age four receive a brand new, developmentally appropriate book in the mail each month until the age of five.
    • Healthy Learners ($5,000): Funds will be allocated to cover basic health care costs for children who are in need and without resources.
    • SC Center for Fathers & Families ($11,656): Funds will be used to improve nutrition education for low-income fathers and to encourage healthy eating for fathers and children.
    • Youth Corps ($5,000): Funds will be used to provide scholarships to low to moderate income students who cannot afford tuition.
    • Camp Discovery ($8,500): Funds will support the Learners to Leaders program for 7th and 8th grade students at Kelly Mill Middle School.
    • Homeworks ($6,368): Funds will be used for materials to expand home repair and weatherization and the youth mentoring program.
    • Girls on the Run ($1,500): Funds will be used in Lexington School District Two.
    • The RAM Foundation ($10,000): Funds will go towards a six week summer camp for children ages 4-17 in the Pine Hurst community.
    • Senior Resources ($5,776): Funds will train and place foster grandparents for one year.
    • Salvation Army ($5,000): Funds will leverage the literacy program.
    • Christ Central – Prosperity Project ($6,000): Funds will support Prosperity Project, a preschool in the Lyon Street neighborhood, including the Gonzales Gardens community.
    • Autism Academy of SC ($45,000): Funds go towards renovating a dilapidated gymnasium that will house activities for children with autism and will be available to other children in the Midlands, nonprofits and community groups for activities and projects focused on healthy children.

A committee reviewed these applications and made recommendations to the Board of Directors about which organizations the League should financially invest in during the 2014-2015 League year. All recommendations were approved unanimously.  Nonprofit organizations accepted their awards during the JLC’s General Membership Meeting on Jan. 8 at the Columbia Metropolitan Convention Center. This meeting also featured Association of Junior Leagues International President Ellen Rose as the keynote speaker in recognition of the League’s 90thanniversary. For more information about the 90th anniversary events and community project, please visit www.jlcolumbia.org.

 

About the Junior League of Columbia:

The Junior League of Columbia, Inc. is an organization of women committed to the promotion of volunteerism, developing the potential of women, and improving communities through the effective action and leadership of trained volunteers.  Its purpose is exclusively educational and charitable. Together, the members of Junior League of Columbia, Inc. seek to strengthen the health and well-being of children and families in the Midlands.  For more information, visit jlcolumbia.org.