Citing the greatest need for emergency services seen in its 36-year history, The Community Foundation for the National Capital Region announced today that its Neighbors in Need Fund is awarding $714,300 in new grants to safety net organizations that serve vulnerable residents throughout the metropolitan Washington region.

The Community Foundation is the largest funder of nonprofit organizations in the Washington region.

The grants, awarded on a competitive basis, will help 37 charities including food banks, homeless shelters, and clothing, meal, and foreclosure-prevention programs meet the Washington, DC region`s escalating demand for basic human services.

Another round of emergency grants for food and shelter programs in Santa Clara County was announced today by the Silicon Valley Community Foundation.

The foundation will award about $500,000 in grants to 23 nonprofit organizations serving residents in need. In early May, the foundation awarded $1 million in emergency grants for food and shelter programs.

"As the county's unemployment has risen, more people than ever before are turning to food pantries and temporary shelters," Rebecca Salner, a media relations officer from the Silicon Valley Community Foundation, said of the emergency grants.

The Chicago Community Trust announced it surpassed a $1-million target to provide funds for shelters and pantries that have been overwhelmed by soaring demand.

In an initiative launched late last year, the community foundation raised $1.3 million for its Unity Challenge fund for local charities.

In addition, it contributed $2 to the fund for every $1 in donations, bringing the total fund to almost $4 million. A $500,000 donation from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation helped the Trust exceed its initial goal to raise $1 million for the fund.

Scott Brown and Tom Burns of the Greater Dover Advisory Board and Hugh Leahy of the Delaware Community Foundation presented a grant $2,183 to Whatcoat Social Service Agency - WSSA Food Pantry.

Whatcoat Social Service Agency - WSSA Food Pantry is a program that was established to meet the need of those low income families who are going through a crisis such as job loss, illness, or domestic issues. Some need a chance to apply for food stamps while others need to supplement their food budget. Our objective is to keep those who come to us from being hungry.

Southwest Florida Community Foundation awarded $86,000 to United Way of Lee, Hendry and Glades as fiscal sponsor of the Hunger Task Force of Southwest Florida through the community foundation's annual Initiative Grant.

"The Community Foundation's Trustees decided in November to select hunger as the focus issue of the Initiative, recognizing that hunger is a critical community issue," said Anne Douglas, SWFLCF director of programs.

The Southwest Florida Community Foundation's annual Initiative Grant focus area is determined in November.

The recession has hurt Wichita's poor people and their children much harder and faster than social service agencies predicted when it started last year, food charities say. Agencies that track poverty are compiling rapidly rising statistics about Wichita children going hungry, prompting the Wichita Community Foundation to call a July 13 summit of local leaders to figure out how to feed them.

"We've been hearing from people that the supply of food is available, but that some children aren't getting it."

The Kansas Food Bank recently created a statistical snapshot of hunger in Wichita one that shows gaps in service to the poorest people in the community:

In the year ending June 30, 2008, the food bank handed out 6.6 million pounds of food to the pantries it supplies in Wichita and statewide.

The number of children coming into the Lord's Diner every night has jumped 32 percent over last year.

Toedman said many of those children go hungry and that churches, local governments and aid agencies have had to step up food drives and other actions to stave off a possible crisis.

Among the agencies the foundation has invited are the Salvation Army, Catholic Charities, Communities in Schools, the city of Wichita, the Wichita Police Department, the Kansas Department of Social and Rehabilitation Services, and many charities that help bring food to the poor. They share notes written by hungry children and by those who work with them at schools and food charities.

The Akron Community Foundation is throwing a financial lifeline to Akron's art community.

It has approved quarterly grants totaling $1,666,085. That includes 31 community fund grants totaling $474,000, with $421,000 for arts and culture programs.

The foundation reports that it is assisting struggling arts groups with grants for operational needs during the economic downturn.

The foundation also set aside funds for those in need of food assistance. It approved $25,000 to establish the Food Pantry Capacity Fund. The effort will help Summit County food pantries buy the equipment they need to store and distribute fresh food.

''A vital part of Akron Community Foundation's mission is to respond to needs in the community as they arise,'' said foundation President and CEO John T. Petures Jr. in a prepared statement. ''The Food Pantry Capacity Fund does exactly that and, together, we will better position area food pantries to serve individuals and families who need it most.''

The foundation also granted 232 grants totaling $1,192,085 from 79 designated and donor-advised funds.

The Akron Community Foundation was founded in 1955.

The Madison Community Foundation is sponsoring three years of access to Community Cars fleet of hybrid and high-mileage vehicles.

Independent Living can now take the $5,000 a year it had spent on vehicle-related expenses and keep prices low for its Meals on Wheels clients, usually elderly residents, said Rita Giovannoni, Independent Living CEO.

After the three years of foundation sponsorship, Independent Living could continue with Community Car on its own at 50 percent of what they spent on transportation before the Madison Community Foundation suggested a partnership with Community Car, a Madison-based car sharing organization.

To encourage interest in volunteering for Independent Living and Meals on Wheels, Community Car is waiving its application fee for Independent Living volunteers.

An advisory committee board made up of representatives from various Bristol Bay communities spent three days in Anchorage last month to decide who would be the recipients of the first round of Pebble Fund grants.

Alaska Community Foundation, which administers the grants funded by the Pebble Partnership, announced April 1 that 33 nonprofit groups, schools, villages and tribal councils serving the Bristol Bay area were awarded $1 million in grants from the Pebble Fund.

The holidays will be a little merrier for many needy and homeless Rhode Islanders thanks to $500,000 in one-time emergency grants announced today by the Rhode Island Foundation.

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