Cherokee Strip Community Foundation distributes $55,605 to nonprofits | Local News | enidnews.com ”+ ”+ ”+ ” Cherokee Strip Community Foundation distributes $55,605 to nonprofits

Cherokee Strip Community Foundation Board of Trustees have distributed grants to several area nonprofit agencies.

The 2016 grants from the Field of Interest Funds at CSCF, including the Goley (Ralph & Win) Nutrition Fund and the Sisters of Mercy Field of Interest Fund, total $55,605.89 to 16 nonprofit grant recipients.A The foundation distributed $743,108.40 in 2016 from funds and endowments to area nonprofits, including the 2016 grants.

The grants range from funding for 4RKids to purchase an industrial refrigerator, which is a part of their expansion to provide additional jobs, to helping Garfield County Master Gardeners fund a aliving laboratorya and offer hands-on opportunities for observing and experimenting with plants, through incorporating art, music and performance skills.

aWe pride ourselves on the fact that our grants will provide valuable assistance to the organizations and the people they each serve and will continue the tradition set forth by the Cherokee Strip Community Foundation,a said Marcy Price, chairwoman of the grant committee. aWe are confident that the grants awarded will meet the wide range of needs in our communities in Northwest Oklahoma.a

Price said those who donate to the foundation are people who love the community and want to see organizations within it succeed in helping others.

“Increasing budget holes and increasing needs of organizations makes the Cherokee Strip Community Foundation a more important part of Northwest Oklahoma,” Price said.

She said the grants issued by the foundation help a wide variety of age groups and projects that meet all types of needs in the area.

“It really is exciting for us to help these groups,” Price said.

The following grants were awarded:

a 4 R Kids a $3,705.A To purchase a new industrial refrigerator which is part of their expansion to provide additional jobs.

a Loaves & Fishes a $3,327.A Funds will be used to purchase two JetStream 4000 CFM variable speed portable evaporative coolers to cool the warehouse where food is processed, sorted, prepared and stocked.

a Enid Symphony Orchestra Association a $5,000.A Funds will support Enid Symphony Orchestraas initial participation in the Carnegie Hall Link Up education program serving 11 elementary music teachers and 1,800 Enid Public Schools third- through fifth-grade students.

a Regional Food Bank Foundation of Oklahoma a $2,500.A Funds will assist the food bank with the Backpack Program in Garfield County serving 1,675 students in five schools systems in Garfield County.

a Hope Outreach, Inc. a $4,327.A Funds will support the aEarn While You Learn Program,”, such as curriculum, car seats, cribs, cradles and diapers.

a Salvation Army a $5,327.A Funds will cover all aspects of the ReVision program, part of Bridge the Gap OK program to alleviate poverty.

a United Way of Enid & Northwest Oklahoma a $3,980.A Funds will be used to continue to refurbish and provide supplies for the resource kits for mentors and their students and provide greater support and training for volunteer mentors for the Coach-a-Kid Enid Mentor Program focusing on reading and math to build self-esteem.

a Enid Community Theatre (Gaslight Theatre) a $1,645.A Funds will be used to purchase a personal FM listening system for the auditorium so people wearing hearing aids will be better able to hear the productions.

a Hedges Regional Speech & Hearing Center a $3,327.A Funds will be used for diagnostic materials, weighted vests and blankets, high chairs which allow for exceptional stability and can be used by a small 2-year-old up to a larger toddler during therapy.

a Garfield County Master Gardeners a $1,827.A Funds will help build a aliving laboratorya and offer hands-on opportunities for observing and experimenting with plants, incorporating art, music, and performance as well.

a Oklahoma Dental Foundation a $3,327.A MobileSmiles, an RV-type vehicle and a project of the OK Dental Foundation, provides oral health education providing a coordinated system where dentists can volunteer services to those needing it the most, living in communities served by the Cherokee Strip Community Foundation.

a Making a Difference a $3,927.A Funds will be used to provide students with a safe, positive and engaging environment after school and throughout the summer. Target is sixth- through eighth-grade students at Longfellow Middle School and ninth-graders at Enid High School.

a Cherokee Strip Regional Heritage Center a $5,187.A Funds will be used to purchase a flatbed scanner currently used for copying archival materials and video capturing oral histories used in exhibits and a projector with better quality image.

a Sandbox Learning Center a $4,217.A Funds will be used for replacing and adding equipment including new napping cots, classroom rugs and a bus loft to both meet DHS requirements and provide new stimulating classroom experiences.

a Community Enterprises a $1,727.A Funds to be used to expand their vocational safety training program.

a Bennieas Barn Equine Therapy/Riding Facility a $2,255.89.A One scholarship for one disabled rider at one lesson per week for a year.

A “I think itas real important that we acknowledge the many donors that have given and that have created so many endowments,” said Mary Stallings, Cherokee Strip Foundation executive director.

She said by giving to create endowments, organizations can have a reliable revenue stream that is not impacted by cuts in funding at the state or national level.

“I think that itas the donors themselves that have the vision to see that if they provide an income stream it will not fluctuate and it won’t matter if there if there is funding cut at state or other levels,” Stallings said. “Itas a great funding source.”

Stallings said she also wanted to thank the 25 foundation members who are trustees of the board.

“Those are the people that truly have the vision and give their time and resources and see that appropriate oversight is given and that it is across the board they just do a lot of oversight,” she said, noting the groups consists of a variety of professionals and representatives from the community. 1.

Cherokee Strip Community Foundation welcomes proposals from any nonprofit organization in Enid and Northwest Oklahoma with an IRS tax-exempt status. “We encourage these organizations in Enid to write these grants so that the foundation can help these organizations that help the community.”

Fifty area nonprofits with endowments have been established at Cherokee Strip Community Foundation. A total of $31,005.59 is being distributed to area nonprofits from 10 Donor Advised Funds at CSCF, having to do with arts and culture, health, human services and education in Enid and Northwest Oklahoma.

The foundation is a member of the Council of Foundations along with more than 700 other community foundations in the United States with more than $70 billion in assets and more than $10 billion in local grants given each year.