New defibrillators in Ansonia, a handicap lift for the YMCA swimming pool and a “Drums not Drugs” program at the Ansonia Boys and Girls Club were among 30 Valley projects given Valley Community Foundation grants Monday night.
The foundation awarded $135,000 to local organizations at a reception held at Center Stage in Shelton.
That includes about $20,000 from supplemental “donor advised” funds, in which the donor picks out applications to support.
James E. Cohen, the president and CEO of the Valley Community Foundation, said the foundation received 38 applications seeking almost $300,000.
“There wasn’t enough money to make full grants for everything you wanted,” Cohen said to a crowd of about 60 people. “But that day is coming.”
This was the second year the five-year-old foundation handed out the competitive grants.
Last year, the foundation gave out $165,000.
Click below to see a slideshow of photos from the event.
This year’s grants went to:
- Father McKenna St. Vincent de Paul Society – to help purchase food supplies to stock the food bank through spring.
- Valley Emergency Medical Services – to help replace lead cardiac monitors and defibrillators.
- Housatonic Council, Boy Scouts of America – to help the Scouting for Food campaign.
- Valley YMCA – to help purchase a new swimming pool lift to make the pool accessible to all people.
- Griffin Hospital- to help launch the Phlebotomy Certification Course.
- Derby Public Library – to help the Local History Preservation Project.
- Area Congregations Together, Inc. – to help with case management and programming.
- Birmingham Group Health Services – to help the Valley Substance Abuse Action Council bring the “Drums Not Drugs” program to students at the Boys and Girls club in Ansonia.
- The Salvation Army Ansonia Corps – to help the Salvation Army expand the community food programs in the Valley.
- Center Stage Theatre, Inc. – for the Youth CONNection summer program.
- Derby Historical Society – to pay for a collections management professional to inventory and organize the current collection.
- Visiting Nurse Association of South Central CT – to support the creation of a specialized team of Cancer Care Specialists.
- Lower Naugatuck Valley Parent Child Resource Center Inc. – to help a Positive Parenting Program, an in-home training program.
- Derby School Readiness and Discovery Initiative – to offer four kindergarten workshops for parents.
- Valley Council for Health and Human Services – to help track critical information about community well-being in the Lower Naugatuck Valley.
- Shelton Youth Services Bureau – to support a Big Brother-Big Sister program.
- Hilltop Hose Fire Co. in Ansonia – to help purchase four new defibrillators and wall cabinets.
- American Red Cross, Valley Chapter – to help get the word out about the influenza pandemic threat.
- Valley Directors Network and the Derby Neck Library – to help expand the offering of early care and education training videos.
- Shelton Historical Society – to support “Packing for Posterity” program.
- Catholic Charities Archdiocese of Hartford – to support the Ansonia Child Guidance Clinic.
- New Haven Legal Assistance Association, Inc. – to help re-establish a presence in the Lower Naugatuck Valley by placing three advocates at the TEAM offices three days a week.
- Shelton School Readiness Council – to purchase 500 copies of the “Miss Bindergarten Gets Ready for Kindergarten” book to give to kindergarten students.
- Morris Foundation, Inc. – to support adolescent outpatient substance abuse treatment for high risk Valley high school students.
- Boys & Girls Club of Lower Naugatuck Valley – to partially fund the salary of the Chief Financial Officer
- Oxford Historical Society, Inc. – to purchase a display cabinet for the Twitchell-Rowland Homestead museum.
- Valley Arts Council – to support a design study for the interior of the Sterling Opera House.
- City of Derby Bureau of Youth Services – to support a program called “A Rehearsal of Life,” to deescalate violent confrontation among youth.
- Friends of the Ansonia Nature and Recreation Center – to support a nature-based preschool program at the Redwing Pond House.
Note: The Valley Community Foundation is also a sponsor of the Valley Independent Sentinel.
