By JAN McLAUGHLIN
BG Independent News
As the Bowling Green Community Foundation prepared to hand out grants Thursday evening to new recipients, members were serenaded by a past recipient. Beats from the new BGHS quad drums – paid for last year with a BGCF grant – set the scene for the next round of grants.
“I think our investment was a wise one,” BGCF President Marcia Latta said as the music from the drum line was still reverberating in the room.
It was over 30 years ago that some movers and shakers in Bowling Green tried to get a community foundation started. In the first go round, the idea was passed over as a Leadership BG project, but the founders knew they had a good plan.
So they tried again, and gathered support in the community. Since then, the grants have been the seed money for new organizations, and the start up of new projects.
“Many thousands of lives have been touched,” Latta said.
And on Thursday evening – 30 years after the first grants were handed out – the foundation presented checks to 16 community organizations that will make a difference in Bowling Green.
Because of the grants, there will be new park benches, a public bike repair station, a safe after prom, interactive art at the Black Swamp Arts Festival, and expansion of Firefly Nights. There will be new bereavement support for parents grieving early pregnancy loss, and programs helping those with developmental disabilities, children with behavioral issues, and neighborhoods with deteriorating housing stock. And there will be security cameras for parks, a drone for the police division, and key boxes that let fire/EMS personnel access homes.
Latta thanked donors for making the grants possible. This year $56,269 was awarded to community organizations.
“You make our grant programs possible,” she said.
Latta was one of the founders of the foundation 31 years ago. She was joined by Lee Hakel, John Harden, Jon Klever and Joyce Horton. The seed money was provided by Ashel Bryan.
The Bowling Green Community Foundation, a non-profit entity, exists to improve the quality of life in the Bowling Green area by providing funding and support for a variety of programs that enhance the health, welfare and vitality of the Bowling Green community. Private contributions from individuals and businesses are the sole support of the foundation.
“We love to see new ideas, collaborative projects or programs that make Bowling Green an even better place,” Latta said. “Our selections may be for educational or athletic activities, health or safety initiatives, environmental sustainability, visual or performing arts, youth development – as long as it is a non-profit, and is not a repeat of something we have funded in the past few years, we’ll take a look.”
Currently grants range from $500 to $7,500.
“It is cause for celebration that many thousands of lives are touched because of the remarkable partnership between our donors and the outstanding organizations that exist to serve the residents of Bowling Green,” Latta said.
Following are the 16 grant recipients:
Wood Lane Residential Services Inc. – Poe Mowbility Crew
- $5,999 to purchase a riding lawn mower for a vocational landscaping program for adults with developmental and/or intellectual disabilities who are served by Wood Lane Residential Services Inc.
Wood County Hospital – Wood County Hospital Community Outreach Program
- $3,900 toward expenses for the Wood County Hospital Outreach Program. Community health workers from the hospital will identify noninsured/underinsured Bowling Green individuals in need, and work with local agencies and organizations to support these individuals with their basic needs. Members of the community can receive assistance with obtaining health insurance, housing, legal services, and be connected with a physician or dentist. Also, they can get help with going back to school, employment, obtaining items such as clothing, furniture, household items, food and various other needs.
Bowling Green Firefighters Community Benefit Fund – Knox Box loan program
- $5,075 to purchase 24 Knox Boxes, which are essentially a small safe that is installed on the exterior of a building, typically by the front door. Keys to the building are placed within the Knox Box, allowing first responders to access the building quickly during an emergency using a master key. Without a Knox Box, first responders must find alternative entry solutions, whether waiting for someone to unlock the door or forcing entry, which could cause costly damage to the building.
Children’s Resource Center – Modernizing mental health services for Wood County youth
- $2,200 to purchase Surface Pros for home-based staff to use while completing intakes and implementing treatment plans within the client’s home. The goal of this program is to provide the least restrictive behavioral health services that empower client children and families to avoid out-of-home/out-of-community placements.
Ronald McDonald House Charities of Central Ohio – Helping Hands
- $1,000 will be used to provide nights of rest at Ronald McDonald House to Bowling Green families who have children in the hospital. While hospitals provide medical care, the Ronald McDonald Houses provide a “home-away-from-home,” which may help alleviate stress and anxiety, thereby improving their ability to participate in the care of their child receiving medical treatment.
Bowling Green Save Our Neighborhoods Group – 2024 Rock the Block Project
- $3,750 to purchase equipment and supplies to help with basic home repair and maintenance and landscaping improvements. Bowling Green Save Our Neighbors Group will address the needs of some BG homeowners for help with basic home repair and maintenance and landscaping improvements. The funding will help with repairs such as house painting, wood rot repair, door and window repair and replacement and refreshing or reestablishing appropriate landscaping.
Friends of the Wood County Parks – Benches for Bowling Green
- $3,750 to purchase two benches to be placed in publicly accessible spaces in two Wood County parks located in the Bowling Green area. At Carter Historic Farm, volunteers work on the garden to produce fresh produce for the park and for the Brown Bag Food Pantry. Visitors and volunteers alike will benefit from the addition of comfortable, long-lasting park benches. Community groups use the Slippery Elm Trail for group rides, and both the nearby schools and BG City Parks conduct programs along this portion of trail.
Bowling Green Parks & Recreation – Security cameras for Simpson Garden Park and Wintergarden Nature Preserve
- $3,828 to purchase security cameras and related equipment to help monitor Simpson Garden Park and Wintergarden Nature Preserve to reduce and respond to acts of vandalism and theft as well as improve the overall safety of local parks.
Bowling Green Police Division/Downtown Foundation Inc. – Small Unmanned Aircraft System Program
- $7,103 to purchase one drone for use by the Bowling Green Police Division. These types of special drones are commonly used by first responders as a force multiplier. For instance, they cover more areas in a shorter period of time in search and rescue operations for missing children or adults. They are tools in surveillance operations related to criminal activity, airborne documentation of crime scenes, as well as fire and rescue operations. In addition, these special drones assist in pre-planning and site security for large community events such as the Black Swamp Arts Festival.
Firefly Nights – Firefly Nights 2024 Festival Series
- $6,672 from the Cormier Fund to fund children art activities along with children entertainment during the Firefly Nights. These funds will provide safe entertainment for the children of Bowling Green including entertainment acts, crafts, face painting, bubbles, and sidewalk chalk on Main Street.
City of Bowling Green Bicycle Safety Commission – Public bike repair station
- $1,267 to purchase one public bike repair station to be placed at Wooster Green. This project supports the development of bicycle infrastructure throughout the city of Bowling Green including bicycle routes, bicycle racks, and other visible bicycle infrastructure.
NAMI Wood County – Caregiver and youth connection
- $3,000 for funding of family/caregiver and youth programming, including caregiver café groups and school-based advocacy services. Through this initiative, they can address and reduce stigma, increase necessary skills to respond to mental health symptoms and crises, and cultivate awareness of recovery support group services for family and caregivers.
Sufficient Grace Ministries for Women Inc. – Bring SGM perinatal hospice and bereavement support services to BG
- $2,475 to fund perinatal loss support training and resources for patients experiencing early pregnancy loss. Specifically, this project focuses first on providing SGM Perinatal Hospice and Bereavement Support services to families and medical professionals in Bowling Green. These services help to improve the physical, as well as mental health of grieving parents after the loss of a child.
Black Swamp Arts Festival – 2024 art installation
- $2,500 from the Town and Gown Fund. BGSU students will create and install an interactive art installation during the 2024 Black Swamp Arts Festival. The goal is to engage Professor Gerard Nadeau and Bowling Green State University students in the Department of Architecture and Environmental Design School of the Built Environment to create and install an interactive art installation during the festival.
Bowling Green High School After Prom Committee – BG High School After Prom
- $3,132 to fund an organized annual after-prom event. Bowling Green High School students will benefit from this funding by having a safe and enjoyable alternative to unsupervised parties on prom night. The event will offer them a fun and memorable experience while minimizing the risk of underage drinking and exposure to drugs.
Wood County District Public Library – Janis L. Pallister Fund established in 1999
- $617 to enable the Wood County Public Library to purchase videotapes to be made available for circulation to library patrons.
