Fonthill club seeking deserving local charity for grant
The Rotary Club of Fonthill has a $5,000 grant to be devoted to a local charitable endeavour, and is asking for help in determining which one should be chosen.
As is the case every year, Rotary provides a sum of money and sees it matched by district command — for 2020, it’s to the tune of $2,500 each.
“We have $5,000 available for any community organization that would like to apply,” Grants Chair Mel Groom said last week.
In 2019, the project undertook the purchase of two defibrillators for St. Johns Ambulance, and 2,500 pairs of socks for “Socks for Change.”
This year, Groom and the club decided to change things up and give the community they serve the opportunity to highlight areas in need.
“It’s the first time have tried this,” she said. “We’ve always just looked around and found them, but I’m finding that it’s more important for the community to tell us what they need rather than us find a project to fund.”
Rotary’s mission statement is broad —understanding, goodwill, peace, support of education, and alleviation of poverty — so there should be plenty of charitable ideas that could qualify, according to Groom.
“It’s to better our community in some way,” she said. “I think the main thing is to get the community to be creative in ideas they like to see for the improvement of Pelham … in a nutshell, it’s what will better our lives in our community.”
One caveat is the project cannot already be started.
“We have to approve the project before any money can be spent,” Groom said. “For example, the [Fonthill] Bandshell project, we can’t do that because they’ve already put the shovel in the ground.”
The application form asks how the proposed project would benefit the community, and solicits estimates on logistics if selected. The deadline for applications is February 15. To obtain one, email Groom at [email protected]
