2020 Grants Awarded
awarded by Healthier Congregations Team: Grants Working Group
PANDEMIC RESPONSE GRANTS
All 58 PGV churches $200 each for a total of $11,600: The funds supported staff, technology, food and other uses that benefited the ministry of the given church.
Mendon Presbyterian Church and Rural Migrant Ministries$1,000 each: Grants went to to support their work during this pandemic. READ GRANT REPORT HERE
Albion First $1,000: For migrant children and families for dinners and English as Second Language classes. READ GRANT REPORT HERE
Batavia First $1,000: Keeping Hope Alive a new ministry making masks, and prayer shawls, providing food and support to those on the frontline who provide essential services, crisis management, and healthcare; and to our most vulnerable population in nursing homes who are feeling so isolated because they are unable to receive visits from friends and family due to the lockdown. READ GRANT REPORT HERE.
CHURCH TRANSFORMATION GRANTS
Central Geneseo $1500: For Such a Time as This: Learning about Structural Racism and Systemic Injustice Grant funds were requested to help underwrite the costs associated with education about white privilege, implicit bias, structural racism, and systemic injustice, and the church and individual role in these deeply rooted problems. READ GRANT REPORT HERE
Penfield Presbyterian $1,180: O2 Church: PPC Outside and Online is an effort to utilize technology to expand worship, fellowship, and eventually some mission connections, to include outdoor and online opportunities. Plans include weekly on-line recorded worship and live stream worship. READ GRANT REPORT HERE.
South Presbyterian Member Connect $1,417: Member connect is a way to support members of the congregation in the Acts of Faith who due to economic disparity can not connect via internet to Facebook, online worship or Bible study. The grant monies will support the purchase of 10 portable DVD, chromebook, and Disk burner to connect members. READ GRANT REPORT HERE.
COMMUNITY TRANSFORMATION GRANTS
Judicial Process $2,025: New Journey works in collaboration with the Monroe County Jail to serve 50 women prerelease and 35 high to moderate risk mothers with children post release each year. Provides them with service coordination and referrals to needed services (medical, mental health, legal, etc.), wrap around services, (e.g., household items, identifications), therapeutic support groups, and mentors. Women’s lives will be stabilized, they will reunite with their children and recidivism will be reduced. Financial support comes from government/foundation grants, and religious/ individual donations.
Family Promise $2,025: Bridges of Hope is a program for homeless families in Ontario County to achieve sustainable independence by supporting them with food, shelter, personalized case management, and a diverse network of caring volunteers. READ GRANT REPORT HERE.
Los Samaritarios $3,000: This project is a community coalition in Genesee County including representatives from the Batavia First Presbyterian; Stone Church Presbyterian; Byron First Presbyterian; Morganville United Church of Christ; First United Methodist Church, Resurrection Roman Catholic Parish along with other interested community members. Provides physical, spiritual, emotional needs of individuals being released from the Buffalo Migrant Detention Center located in Batavia. READ GRANT REPORT HERE.
REACH Home Transitional Shelter $2,025: REACH Advocacy Inc. has been managing transitional, temporary shelters for chronically homeless men and women. The Housing First Philosophy that is based on research that says a person is much better able to work on whatever issue is keeping them homeless if they have a safe, permanent place to live of their own. READ GRANT REPORT HERE.
Community Food Cupboard $2,025: The Community Food Cupboard of Rochester has been serving Northeast Rochester and Irondequoit. It presently has 3 programs: Emergency, Senior Basket, Long-term Family. The largest of these is the Senior Basket program, which provides food for 160 low income Senior households each month. The fastest growing program is the Emergency Program which serves between 100-140 households per month. READ GRANT REPORT HERE.
Teen Empowerment $2,025: Trains 12-15 Youth History Ambassadors to connect with the Clarissa Street Community to develop an interactive multimedia exhibit. Interview members of the Clarrissa Street Reunion living legacy of resistance and resilience to know Black history. READ GRANT REPORT HERE.
PEACEMAKING GRANTS
Scholarships High School Students Sudan $1,000: Peacemaking grant to fund two scholarships for $500 each for uniforms, shoes and supplies in Sudan.
Presbyterian Church of South Sudan $2,500: Murle Congregations and Rhino Refugee Settlement Camp. Training church leaders in Arua Uganda construction of churches in Rhino Camp (Simbili Camp, Ocea and Town in Arua District. purchasing of plastic chairs and tables for the churches.
