Petersburg Community Foundation awarded $30,000 in grants to Petersburg nonprofit organizations. The grants were announced during the Little Norway Festival weekend. KFSK’s Angela Denning reports:
Eight local nonprofits received money from the Petersburg Community Foundation (PCF) this spring. The foundation has two endowment funds, one for operations and one for granting purposes. PCF uses the interest earned for the community grants much like Alaska’s Permanent Fund Dividend. So, the original investment continues to grow.
“Personally, I just love the model of funding Petersburg’s future through philanthropy,” said Holli Flint, the foundation’s Program Manager. “It’s definitely the town supporting itself. Petersburg helping Petersburg.”
$30,000 is twice as much grant money as the foundation awarded just three years ago. Back when PCF formed in 2008, it gave out $5,000 a year. Flint says the organization’s investments have grown but there are also more local donations coming in.
In recent years, the Rasmuson Foundation has matched local donations to PCF.
The main grant cycle happens in the spring and small, micro-grants are giving out in the fall.
Flint says the awards will help pay for equipment upgrades at the ball field snack shack.
“The Petersburg Little League got a grant to renovate the snack shack that is needing a new floor. It’s kind of deteriorating,” Flint said. “Farragut Farms, in partnership with the Medical Center, is doing a program–the Health Foods=Healthy Families program–where they donate vegetables to about 16 families in need. With this grant, they’re going to educate on what to do with the vegetables when you get it: how to cook them; how to prepare meals around them. The Marine Mammal Center got a second grant–two years in a row–for the reduced plastics. Last year they were in the school system, in the elementary school, about once a month doing projects and out in the community. Next year, they’re going to be with the older kids, kind of expanding on what they’ve already started.”
Another grant recipient is the Viking Swim Club. The nonprofit is getting a grant for aquatic center equipment.
The community foundation grant will pay for 70 percent of the cost and the other 30 percent will be shared by the swim club, the borough, and the school district.
“They’re getting a vacuum for the pool that can work at night under the pool covers to keep the heat in the pool,” Flint said. “They’re getting a new family of maniquins for CPR. Replacing some lane lines and old swimming equipment fins, kick boards, pull buoys, those kinds of things.”
KFSK received a grant to replace its transmitter to reach more listeners and to save money on operations.
The Petersburg Community Foundation is guided by an advisory board. The awards are chosen by a grant selection committee made up of the board members and donors.
Here is the list of Grantees for the 2019 Petersburg Community Foundation Grant Cycle:
Girls Scouts of Alaska- “Women of Science & Technology Day Camps in Petersburg”
Farragut Farms – “Healthy Food = Healthy Families”
Viking Swim Club – “Aquatic Center Equipment”
Petersburg Library – “Self-Check-out Kiosk”
Narrows Broadcasting – “Replace Transmitters”
Marine Mammal – “Reduce Plastic Petersburg”
Rae C Stedman Partners in Ed – “Ray Troll into the schools during the Rainforest Festival”
Petersburg Little League – “Snack Shack Renovations”
