Grants awarded

Local organizations were awarded more than $350,000 in grants.

The Portland Foundation this week announced winter grants totaling $342,716 and Teacher Creativity Mini Grants of more than $3,000.

“As always, The Portland Foundation is very pleased to be able to award these grants,” said foundation executive director Doug Inman in a press release. “The generosity of Jay County citizens over the last 73 years allows the Foundation to carry out its mission — to enhance the quality of life for the people in Jay County.”

By far the largest of the grants — $75,000 — went to Jay County Baseball Club. It will be used to fund renovation of the organization’s new facility known as The Clubhouse.

John Jay Center for Learning received more than $50,000 spread across four grants. It got $31,800 for its SkillsTrac Industrial Maintenance training program, $10,000 for language classes for Spanish speakers learning English and English speakers learning Spanish and $6,000 each for its Senior Learning Series at its robotics and STEM camps.

Arts Place was awarded two grants totaling $35,000 — $25,000 for its MusicWorks program and $10,000 for matching funds for a National Endowment for the Arts Our Town grant.

Jay Community Center, Redkey Junior League and Pennville Community Gym each received $25,000 for Boomer Sports, a new utility building and refinishing the gym floor, respectively. A Better Life – Brianna’s Hope got $20,000 to fund addiction treatment and Jay County Drug Prevention Coalition for its peer addiction support team.

Jay County 4th of July Committee was awarded $10,000 for its annual activities, West Jay Community Center got $8,500 for its summer day camp and Jay County REMC was OK’d for $8,000 for the Dolly Parton Imagination Library. Receiving $5,000 apiece were Dunkirk Volunteer Fire Department for Fourth of July fireworks, Honor Flight Northeast Indiana for an honor flight, Jay County Historical Society for its Heritage Festival, Kate’s Kart for the purchase of new books and Second Harvest Food Bank for the Asbury Senior Safety Net site.

Other grants were: $3,500 to BIGJAWS Youth for Christ for its Campus Life program; $3,000 to Jay County Public Library for its Kindergarten Prep School program; $2,475 to Dunkirk Beautification Committee for its Webster Depot Park Summer Concert Series; $2,441 to Jay-Randolph Developmental Services for new computers; and $1,000 to Reins of Faith for materials to construct steps and platforms for horseback riding students.

The foundation also awarded 11 Teacher Creativity Mini Grants of $300 or less. They are intended to fund programs for learning experiences teachers feel are important to their students but are outside of the budget of their school.

Those grants are as follows: $300 each to Autumn Brown (East Elementary kindergarten) for the purchase of “Creator Crates,” Alison Homan (East Elementary library) for activity boxes, Beth Mathewson (East Jay Elementary) for tools for speech therapy and Tavia Price (Jay County Junior-Senior High School) for family consumer science supplies; $293.13 to Kristen Gibson (Bloomfield Elementary) for LCD writing tablets and “wobble cushions”; $289.89 to Michelle Bennett (junior-senior high) for special education classroom lighting; $283.42 to Erin Homan (preschool) for classroom activities); $268 to Lisa Cook (East Elementary) for Themed Therapy SLP Membership (speech therapy); and $143 to Kimberly Hawkins (West Jay Elementary) for items to build a drop rollercoaster.

Natalie Corcoran (Redkey Elementary) received two grants — $300 for items for a “Glow Day” activity and $292.76 for classroom games.

The next application deadline for foundation grants and Teacher Creativity Mini Grants is June 27.