WCCF Announces Fall 2020 Community Grants

The Wayne County Community Foundation (WCCF) Board of Trustees met in November and approved grant awards for the Fall competitive grant cycle. Thirteen organizations were awarded grants totaling $179,550 from some of the Foundation’s named community and field of interest funds:

Adaptive Sports Program of Ohio received an $8,500 grant from an anonymous community fund to support an architectural design plan to develop a budget to move toward the initial phase of a capital campaign for a permanent facility.

Chippewa Rogues Hollow Historical Society received a $2,800 grant from the Marjorie B. Newland Memorial Fund for a security system project to include lighting, security cameras, and an interior monitoring system.

The City of Rittman received a $27,500 grant from the WCCF General Fund and an anonymous community fund to construct a covered pavilion at the entrance of the new Rittman Nature Preserve.

Main Street Wooster, Inc. received a $3,000 grant from the Charles R. and Henrietta Yenne Fund for Main Street Fourth Fridays, a series of outdoor, evening parties in downtown Wooster. This grant is contigent on the events moving forward in the coming year.

Nuhop Center for Experiential Learning dba Camp Nuhop received a $5,000 grant from the Nolan and Elsie Hite Community Fund to provide supplies and updates needed for their Camp Nuhop Reboot 2021: Return of the Fuzzy Project.

OneEighty, Inc. received a $25,000 grant from an anonymous community fund for a OneEighty Transitional Housing Facility for women being discharged from the Women’s Residential Treatment Center.

The Railroad Heritage Society received a $10,000 challenge grant from the Carl E. Congdon, Jr. and Susanna Congdon McIntyre Memorial Fund for the conversion of a flat car to provide a unique functional piece of rail equipment to provide open-air passenger car rides during events and throughout the year.

RYBS / Rittman Youth Baseball Softball received a $10,000 grant from the Andrew Berkey Fund and the John G. Taggert Community Fund to support equipment needs for Rittman Youth Baseball and Softball.

Wayne Center for the Arts received an $18,000 grant from an anonymous commuity fund to add two restrooms to the existing and newly renovated Wayne Center for Arts auditorium.

Wayne Growth Partnership received a $6,250 grant from the WCCF General Fund for their Driving Presperity and Accelerating Growth Initiative to strengthen and retain existing businesses and attract quality businesses to stimulate new capital investment and job growth in Wayne County and Northeast Ohio.

West View Manor, Inc. received a $20,000 grant from the Florence L. Rice Community Fund and an anonymous community fund to purchase exercise equipment for their new West View Wellness Center, which will be open to any resident in Wayne County who is 55 or older.

The Wilderness Center, Inc. received an $8,500 grant from the Robert L. and Kathleen M. Polsky Foundation Community Fund to assist with Your Wild Classroom and the transformation of their science-based environmental education programs to online access only programming to serve area school districts due to COVID-19.

The Wooster Community Hospital Foundation received a $35,000 grant from the Beaverson Foundation Community Fund and an anonymous community fund for the Beaverson EMS Institute to provide EMT class scholarships, life saving equipment purchases and required annual and bi-annual training and education to hundreds of Wayne County first responders.

The WCCF is a not-for-profit charitable community organization established in 1978 to accept contributions, create and administer funds, and make grants for the benefit of the people of the greater Wayne County area. Since 1978, the Foundation has awarded more than $84.5 million in the form of grants and scholarships from its 475 separate funds.

Its Community and Field-of-Interest funds permit the WCCF Board of Trustees to be responsive to the changing needs of the community. Donations to these funds by individuals, families, businesses and service organizations help to increase the amount available for grants each year. Contact Sara Patton, WCCF Executive Director, for more information.

Competitive grant applications from nonprofit, tax-exempt, charitable organizations should be submitted by March 1 and September 1 each year. The grant guidelines and online application are available on their website, www.waynecountycommunityfoundation.org.