As the year is wrapping up, the Albion Community Foundation has a few more exciting grantee announcements from the final grant round of 2023.
Healthy Youth/Healthy Seniors Fund
The Healthy Youth/Healthy Seniors Fund was established to support programs that promote the health and wellbeing of youth and seniors. There were two recipients this past grant round including the Harrington Helpers PCO and Albion Health Care Alliance. The Harrington Helpers PCO received $1,000 for playground equipment. Cressie Vargo explained that this equipment will help promote healthy activity and living and that “increased physical activity can help lessen poor classroom behavior so students can focus more on the classroom.”
Albion Health Care Alliance received $1,000 for the Albion Chronic Disease Workgroup Project. This project is to help the health of our community residents through different healthy lifestyle programming geared to create sustainability in our residents’ lives. Rod Auton explained that “using evidence-based practices that focus on the strengths of people living in the community. Finally, we {committee members} all agreed that we will use data to guide directions that we go and decisions that we make as it relates to programs that we develop. So far, we have formed a walking group and organized nutrition education and cooking classes. Our goal is to create these types of programs, but to have them sustained by residents living in the neighborhoods that we are serving.”
James C. Kingsley Youth Fund
As celebration to the life of James C. Kingsley, this youth fund was established to meet local youth needs and encourage youth development in the Albion area. The Battle Creek Community Foundation received $500 for their Wonderful Winterfest Variety Show Children’s Film project. The Harrington PCO received $3,460.89 for soccer goals at Harrington Elementary School.
Youth Fund
The Youth Fund is advised by the Youth Advisory Committee (YAC) to support the needs of the local youth. Kids ‘N’ Stuff Children’s Museum was granted $5,000 for Storyland: A Trip through Childhood Favorites. This traveling exhibit is going to bring the excitement of immersive experiences to the youth of Albion. The Girls Scouts Heart of Michigan received $5,000 for Building Girls of Courage, Confidence, & Character in Albion.
The 2024 grant rounds are in March, May, and September. To learn more visit https://albionfoundation.org/grants/.