Hungry families will be fed. Children will be exposed to the arts. And swimmers will no longer have to worry about leaky diapers in the City Pool.
In an effort to “do good,” the Bowling Green Community Foundation handed out its annual grants to local non-profit organizations on Wednesday evening. The foundation has been helping to fund community groups since 1997.
The grants are funded completely by private donations from local residents and businesses.
This year, the foundation selected 16 organizations to receive grants totaling $61,338.
Bowling Green Community Foundation President Becca Ferguson presented the funding to representatives of the following organizations:
Bowling Green High School – $2,000 for teaching culture through folk tales
- The proposed project centers on folktales and stories produced and staged by the Bowling Green High School Drama Club. The objectives of this proposed project are to foster compassion and empathy among residents of all ages and contribute to on-going dialogue aimed at increasing justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion in the community.
Crim Elementary – $2,090 to give students the experience of creating glass art
- The goal is to give Crim Elementary students the experience of creating glass art, and to educate students about the rich glass history in Northwest Ohio. The plan is to begin this pilot glass program at Crim Elementary and then expand it to Kenwood and Conneaut schools.
Wood County Prevention Coalition – $7,135 to minimize accidental poisoning and addiction due to unused prescription drugs
- The money will be used to provide medicine lock boxes to specific community partners such as the Wood County Educational Service Center, Wood County Committee on Aging and The Ohio State University Extension-Wood County. Prescription lock boxes will be provided to 204 Bowling Green households. The project will educate Bowling Green residents about the dangers of having unsecured prescription drugs on hand, and educate youth on the risks of abusing prescription painkillers.
Bobcat Band Boosters – $7,500 for replacement of quad drums
- The quad drums are one of the backbones of the marching band experience. The current quads for the Bowling Green Marching Band are 22 years old and are past-due being replaced. Quad drums literally take a beating and should be replaced on a regular basis.
Brown Bag Food Project – $7,500 to purchase meat to stock the freezer for low income families
- The Brown Bag Food Project is serving record breaking numbers of clients right now. In the month of September alone the organization provided emergency food to 333 families (1050 individuals). Food prices have been rising across the country. This impacts not only families who are having to make tough decisions about food and other bills; but also food pantries like Brown Bag Food Project which have to purchase food for distribution. This grant would help Brown Bag to purchase meat to ensure that families are able to receive healthy protein options.
National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) Wood County – $1,846 to provide mental health education and awareness
- NAMI Wood County is focusing on providing mental health education and awareness to more entities throughout the community. One of those efforts is to educate clergy and faith communities through the NAMI FaithNet program. The second effort is to partner with local businesses to promote mental health awareness and reduce stigma in the workplace through an initiative called StigmaFree Company.
Bowling Green Curling Club – $2,600 to purchase equipment used in curling for youth with disabilities
- The curling club would like to purchase equipment to be used in the sport of curling, including special equipment to be used by youth and differently abled curlers. Currently youth must use adult brooms when they try the sport. In addition, the club needs longer delivery sticks for curlers who use wheelchairs.
Work Leads to Independence – $850 to enhance social and community skills for individuals with developmental disabilities
- It is the mission of wli to assist the people in maximizing their community participation and personal achievement. The project is designed to enhance social and community based skills for individuals with developmental disabilities. The grant will help further extend their social, emotional and cognitive skills.
The Cocoon – $5,000 to install “big kids” playground equipment at the facility
- The Cocoon served more than 800 individual survivors of domestic and/or sexual violence in 2021, along with their children. Thanks to a partnership with a local civic organization, The Cocoon was gifted a brand-new basketball hoop and “big kids” playground equipment in the summer of 2021. But, due to budget constraints, the court area underneath the hoop and the sidewalk leading to the shelter door used by residents was unable to be completed. The Cocoon would also like to add playground equipment for smaller kids.
First United Methodist Church – $3,600 to provide a free healthy meal to individuals in need once a month
- Families in the community are struggling with food insecurity, especially children. The church wants to provide a “safe haven” for children and families – a place to come for assistance, resources and non-perishable food items. This program has evolved from the original Martha’s Kitchen, which dissolved due to COVID.
Wood County 4-H – $1,846 to replace/refurbish existing Skill-a-Thon kits
- The program teaches 4-H youth how to use best practices that support the production of quality and safe animal products for consumers, as well as responsible animal handling, care, and welfare in not only farm animal production, but also with companion and performance animals.
Bowling Green Parks & Recreation Foundation – $2,440 to provide leak-proof swim pants for infants and toddlers
- For the 2023 swim season the Bowling Green City Pool and Waterpark will begin requiring all children in diapers to wear reusable swim pants while using the pool. The goal of the project is to minimize or eliminate fecal incidents at BG City Pool due to younger children swimming without sufficient protection to prevent leakage from a soiled diaper into the water that results in an extended shut down to address the exposure with chemicals. This will be done through having reusable swim pants available on-site.
Bobcat Vocal Music Boosters – $7,500 to provide sound equipment and new risers for BGHS Choir Room
- The goal of this project is to provide new sound equipment and risers for the Bowling Green City Schools’ choir room. For a variety of reasons, public school budgets are increasingly tight, and often it’s extracurricular programs like choir and valuable assets like the choir room that are left trying to figure out how to do more with less. This project will not only benefit the hundreds of students who will pass through the BGCS choir program in the years ahead, but also the entire community.
Bowling Green State University, Center for Women and Gender Equity – $1,318 to get faculty, students, staff and citizens (emphasis on women) involved in politics
- The goal is to demystify politics and provide participants with concrete ways they can get involved in local or national government, whether that is running for office or volunteering their time for a campaign. Many Ohioans do not see themselves as “political,” or feel that the party system does not serve their interests. As a result, they do not participate in local or national elections or get involved with the politics in their communities. The objective is to change this perception, to make those in the Bowling Green community view politics as personal.
Connecting Kids To Meals – $7,500 to provide afterschool lunches for at risk kids
- The primary goal is to increase access to healthy meals at no cost for at-risk kids. This organization combats child food insecurity by partnering with sites that already engage kids and offer programmatic support. In Bowling Green, that includes afterschool programs, the library and an emergency shelter.
Wood County District Public Library – $605.50 from a fund specifically for the library.
