Foundation awards grants

Local organizations will receive more than $150,000 in support for projects.

The Portland Foundation this week announced its summer 2024 grant recipients, with $159,553 awarded for 15 projects.

The largest of the grants at nearly one-third of the total funding, was $50,000 to John Jay Center for Learning. It will be used for the education center’s High School Equivalency program.

Jay Community Center and Arts Place each received a pair of grants. The community center was awarded a total of $17,943 for senior programming, with $2,943 coming from the Ralph and Bertha Green-Tony and Helen Saffer Fund for the Elderly, the Elizabeth A. Starbuck Fund for the Elderly, the Ralph Denver Stroud and Helen Stroud Endowment Fund, and the Joseph Vormohr Memorial Funds that were established to support senior citizens. It also got $7,500 for the Boys and Girls Club after-school programs. Grants to Arts Place were $15,000 for the 2025 Arts in the Parks program and $7,500 for the Hudson Family Park Amphitheater Concert Series.

The only other grants of more than $10,000 went to Cincinnatus League of Jay County for $16,570 to purchase a new soft-serve ice cream machine and $15,424 to Praises and Pathways Daycare for the purchase of furniture.

Receiving $5,000 apiece were Pennville Pumpkin Festival for its 2024 event and the Town of Salamonia for upgrading playground equipment.

Other grants were as follows: $4,000 to Gamma Nu sorority for two ice cream freezers; $3,616 to Portland Kiwanis Club for a new popcorn machine, snow cone machine and freezer; $3,500 to West Jay Community Center for new concession stand appliances; $3,000 to Jay County Robotics from the Virgil and Josephine Thomas Educational Fund for game fields and elements; $3,000 to New Hope Ministries for a new heating ventilation and cooling system; and $2,500 to Dunkirk Junior League for an ice maker.
Teacher Creativity Mini-Grants — the are intended to help cover the cost ($300 or less) of learning experiences which teachers feel are important to their students, yet are outside the budget of their school — of $300 went to Erin Homan (General Shanks Preschool) for classroom events and programs and Erin Ransom (East Elementary School) for classroom dividers and circle carpets. Other teachers receiving grants were Anita Clott (General Shanks) – $211.66 for items for “Ag in the Classroom”; Jennifer Johnson (West Jay Elementary School) – $215 for classroom items; and Beth Mathewson (East Jay Elementary School) – $277.57 for sequencing materials for the classroom.