Women’s Giving Circle of Harford County Awards Nearly $55,000 in Grants in 2018

From the Community Foundation of Harford County:

The Women’s Giving Circle of Harford County has awarded 16 grants in 2018, totaling $54,715. Over the past eight years, the Women’s Giving Circle has donated more than $309,000 to nonprofits serving women and children in Harford County.

The grantees were recognized at the group’s general membership meeting the morning of September 18 at Harford Community College.

“What an incredible milestone it is to have awarded more than $309,000 in grants in eight years,” said Rosemary King Johnston, chair of the Women’s Giving Circle’s Grant Committee. “The programs we support this year will truly make a difference in the lives of women and their families in Harford County. The collective philanthropy of our members is what makes this level of giving possible.”

Receiving a $5,000 grant was the Boys & Girls Clubs of Harford and Cecil Counties for the Harvest of Hope: Seeds of Change program. The grant will enable the nonprofit to plant a community garden that will be seeded, maintained and harvested for 450 youth and their families who live in low-income homes. The produce of the garden will be used in preparation of meals that will be shared at communal picnic tables.

“The weather, combined with a few other factors, made planting and maintaining garden plots difficult this year,” said Derek DeWitt, executive director of the Boys & Girls Clubs of Harford and Cecil Counties. “We learned that it’s not enough to produce a token bushel of tomatoes. We are hosting community events in the garden space, teaching folks how to be good neighbors. Sharing meals improves overall health, including mental health. It brings neighborhoods together. Pot lucks lead to the exchange of recipes. This fall we will be working with our partners and exploring the possibility of offering meal planning and preparation classes. The grant from the Women’s Giving Circle of Harford County allows us to do just that and more for our community.”

Other grant recipients were Harford County Education Foundation, $5,000, for TECH Tools, for 10 laptops and WiFi hotspot for students at Edgewood Middle School for use in school and at home; The SUCCESS Project, $5,000, for transportation and child care for low-income women from 50 households in Joppa, Edgewood, Bel Air, Aberdeen, Belcamp, Churchville and Havre de Grace, to enable them to participate in four free learning opportunities monthly; and TasteWise Kids, $5,000, for Days of Taste, which provide hands-on nutrition and food preparation to fourth graders at Havre de Grace Elementary School (and another Title I elementary school to be determined) and includes taking a field trip to a working farm, preparing food with chefs, making take-home salad kits and experimenting with food tasting

LASOS received a $4,500 grant for a four-week, community-based summer camp for 150 at-risk, low-come and English-language learner students ages 4-21; Char Hope Foundation, $4,000, for poultry and apiary support at Twin Streams Ranch in support of a residential sober living program for up to 16 female residents; Girl Scouts of Central Maryland, $4,000, for Rockin’ Robotics, an Out of School Time STEM program for 60 girls in grades K-4 at William Paca/Old Post Road Elementary School, Edgewood Elementary School, Magnolia Elementary School and Hall’s Cross Roads Elementary School that trains teams for competitions and STEM expo activities; and Sleep in Heavenly Peace, $3,665, for bunk beds, bedding, mattresses and pillows for 100 children and youth, ages 2-18.

Grants were also awarded to Mason-Dixon Community Services, $3,500, for the Highland Summer Backpack Nutrition Program that provides summer meals to FARM-eligible youth in 10 communities in Northern Harford County and provides a backpack for a two-week supply of healthy breakfast and lunch foods that can be replenished every two weeks; Feel Your Boobies Foundation, $3,000, for its promotion of breast health education for young women through the distribution of free reminder kits and the Bras Across Campus Program, student-run and facilitated in collaboration with nursing and allied health programs at Harford Community College; Homecoming Project, $3,000, for meals served to 16 female residents in its substance abuse recovery program; Girls on the Run of Harford and Cecil Counties, $2,850, for full and partial scholarships for 170 girls on the Harford County Girls on the Run and Heart and Sole teams, which are programs for girls in third to fifth grades and sixth to eighth grades, respectively;

Extreme Family Outreach received a $2,000 grant for a one day, weekly, after-school program for nine weeks for 400 children at nine sites in at-risk communities in Edgewood, Aberdeen and Havre de Grace; The Sharing Table, $2,000, to purchase food and supplies to provide a weekly communal meal and a bag of groceries to women who are aging, single, grandmothers raising grandchildren or who have physical and intellectual limitations and to their caregivers in Edgewood, Joppa and Aberdeen; SPIN (aka New Day Wellness), $1,500, for the Healing Hands Jewelry Project to purchase materials and offer training in jewelry making for 200 women living at the poverty level with substance abuse and/or mental health issues or experiencing homelessness; and Found in Faith Ministries, $700, for staff to attend a conference to support capacity building to this new nonprofit that provides quality donated furniture to families in need as part of its Fresh Start Furniture Program.

“The members of the Women’s Giving Circle of Harford County are true leaders of our community,” said Jayne Klein, president of the Community Foundation of Harford County. “The work they do to help women and children in Harford County helps to change lives for the better. We at the Community Foundation of Harford County are so proud of what they have accomplished over the past eight years.”

Founded in 2010, the Women’s Giving Circle of Harford County is dedicated to engaging women of all generations in the power of community philanthropy to address the needs of women and families.

The Women’s Giving Circle funds are held and managed by the Community Foundation of Harford County as a group donor-advised fund. Community Foundation of Harford County–accredited by the Community Foundations National Standards Board, the nation’s highest honor for philanthropic excellence–is a nonprofit supported by the community through donations, enabling individuals, families and businesses to leave a legacy to benefit the causes that matter on a local level. It is one of 15 community foundations in Maryland and nearly 1,000 across the country.

More information about the Women’s Giving Circle of Harford County may be found at cfharfordcounty.org/womens-giving-circle.