Winter grant awards issued

Local organizations will be receiving nearly $300,000 in grants.

The Portland Foundation announced Friday afternoon that it has awarded $282,485 via its winter grant cycle and $2,346.76 in teacher creativity mini grants.

The largest of the 22 grants, from a total of 26 applicants, was $40,000 to Jay County 4-H on a $1 to $1 matching basis for the renovation of the 4-H buildings at Jay County Fairgrounds.

John Jay Center for Learning was awarded $31,800 to cover tuition costs for Jay County High School students to participate in the SkillsTrac Industrial Maintenance Program. It also received $5,000 each for its robotics and STEM camps, its senior learning series and its speakers series and symposium.

A Better Life – Brianna’s Hope and Jay Community Center each received $30,000. The former will use the funds for addiction treatment and the latter for its Boomer Sports program.

Arts Place was also awarded a total of $30,000 — $25,000 for its MusicWorks program and $5,000 for a post-pandemic celebratory community performance at the Hudson Family Park amphitheatre.

Jay County Drug Prevention Coalition received $25,000 to fund its peer recovery coaches.

“As always, The Portland Foundation is very pleased to be able to award these grants,” said Doug Inman, executive director of The Portland Foundation. “The funds would not be possible if not for the countless gifts from Jay County citizens over the last 70 years. These programs help support our mission; to enhance the quality of life for the people in Jay County.”

Each receiving $10,000 grants were Jay County Fourth of July Committee for its annual celebration, Jay County Fair Association for a new speaker system and radios and Portland Park Board for the construction of a disc golf course at Hudson Family Park. West Jay Community Center was awarded $8,500 to repair eaves and masonry at its facility, Youth Service Bureau received $7,500 for its Keeping At Risk Students in School (KARSS) program and Jay County Special Olympics got $7,250 for entry fees.

The foundation awarded $5,000 grants to: Beneficence Family Scholars for monthly events to educate single parents about services; Jay County Historical Society for its annual Heritage Festival; Midwest Pet Refuge for equipment and repairs; and Second Harvest Food Bank for its Senior Safety Net program.

Kate’s Kart received $4,000 for books for pediatric patients and Dunkirk Beautification Committee got $3,385 for its Webster Depot Park summer concert series.

Teacher Creativity Grants of $300 or less are distributed to help cover the costs of learning experiences teachers feel are important for their students but fall outside of the school budget. Receiving $3,000 each were LaVetha Loucks of Westlawn Elementary School for a soprano ukulele storage rack and Brooke Schmiesing of East Elementary School for Chromebook chargers and a charging cart.

Other teacher creativity grants were: $294 to Lindsey Peterson of East for purchase of the Expanding Expression Tool Kit and other materials; $288.84 to Lisa Cook for speech and language instruction materials; $254.54 to beth Mathewson for SnapWords Pocket Chart Cards; $250 each to Rhonda Clott and Meg Mauger of Jay County Junior-Senior High School for the Jay Business Professionals of American state competition; $207.10 to Jenny Gibson of East Elementary for Snapwords Pocket Chart Chards; and $202.28 to Christy Shauver of Redkey Elementary for reading and math curriculum for special education.

The deadline for the next round of grant applications is June 14.