Groups, teachers receive funding

Local organizations and teachers will receive grants totaling nearly $300,000.

The Portland Foundation on Monday announced a total of $289,118 in grants to local organizations and $3,631.07 in Teacher Creativity Mini-Grants.

“As always, The Portland Foundation is very pleased to be able to award these grants,” said Doug Inman, executive director of The Portland Foundation, in a press release. “The funds would not be possible if not for the countless gifts from Jay County citizens over the last 69 years. These programs help support our mission; to enhance the quality of life for the people in Jay County.”

The largest of the grants went to Jay Patriot Band Boosters for $66,000. That money will be used to help fund the purchase of new instruments for the Jay County High School band.

Jay County Fair Association was next on the list as it was awarded $40,000 to help fund the construction of a new restroom and shower facility at the north side of the fairgrounds. John Jay Center for Learning also received a total of $40,000 — $25,000 for tuition for JCHS students in the SkillsTrac Industrial Maintenance Program and $5,000 each for its robotics camp, senior learning series and speaker series and symposium.

Other grants exceeding $10,000 were:

•$30,000 for A Better Life – Brianna’s Hope to fund addiction treatment

•$25,000 each for Arts Place for its MusicWorks program and for Jay Community Center to fund its Boomer sports program

•$20,000 for Jay County Drug Prevention Coalition’s quick-response team

•$15,000 for the Dunkirk Mural Committee for a mural in downtown Dunkirk

•$10,000 for Jay County Fourth of July Committee for its Fourth of July celebration

Additional grants were $9,733 to Jay County Special Olympics for travel expenses and other fees and a computer, scanner and printer, $5,000 to Jay County Historical Society for its Heritage Festival and $3,385 to Dunkirk Beautification Committee for its Webster Depot Park Summer Concert Series.

Teacher Creativity Mini-Grants, which are $300 or less to help with the cost of learning experiences that teachers feel are important to their students but are outside the regular budget, went to a dozen local educators.

They were: $300 each to Kerri Andreshack of Westlawn Elementary School, Jennifer Blackford of East Elementary School and Amy Fullenkamp of Bloomfield Elementary School for a performance of “Charlotte’s Web,” Catherine Berno of General Shanks Elementary School for supplies, Tracy Christman of Westlawn for guided reading books, Renee Haack of Westlawn for curriculum for LifeSkills class, Jacqueline Rinard of Redkey for materials and Jennifer Snow of East for books and materials from the National Reading Recovery and Literacy Conference; $294.94 to Lana Hilty of Jay County Christian Academy for STEM items; $288.87 to Carol Bantz of Westlawn for “hand2mind” math curriculum; $287.96 for speech and language materials; $239.30 to Andrew Davidson of Westlawn for camera equipment for the school newspaper; and $120 for Gina Brockman of East Jay Middle School for math resources.

The next grant application deadline is June 15.