The Michigan Gateway Community Foundation has awarded over $145,000 in grants to various local charitable programs in South Berrien and Cass counties.
CEO Michael Rowland tells us the importance of giving back to the community and supporting organizations that promote a culture of philanthropy.
“It means a ton,” Rowland says. “We have a mission of fostering a community philanthropy for good forever and how we do that is is we foster relationships with the non-profit communities and help them deliver on their missions. That’s what really these grants represent, all their hard work.”
In total, $145,148 was distributed to 17 different organizations during this grant cycle. Grant amounts ranged from $1,075, awarded to Buchanan Community Schools for replacing fitness equipment, to $24,479.10 given to the City of Niles for home repairs for low-income and senior-owned homes.
“We look at those all through the lens of kind of the three buckets that we look to support, which are education, health care, and culture,”Rowland says. “Every community has different needs in those three buckets and depending on what type of funds we have in every individual area, that’s kind of how we’ll look at those opportunities. But in each cycle, we try to fill those three buckets as much as possible.”
All grant awards go towards organizations or non-profits that contribute directly towards the areas of education, healthcare, and culture.
The recipients of the grants include:
- $24,479.10 from the Help4Homes Fund to the City of Niles
- $7,000 from the Niles Area Fund for the Greater Niles Chamber of Commerce
- $835.41 from the Cass Community Fund for Cass Area Artists
- $2,000 from the Cass Community Fund for the Cass County Historical Society
- $20,000 from the Buchanan Area Fund and Walt Schirmer Jr Fund to The Salvation Army
- $5,000 from the Youth Advisory Council Fund for United Way
- $1,075 from the Youth Advisory Council Fund for Buchanan Community Schools
- $14,471 From the Catherine and Louis Desenberg Fund and the B.R. & Marjorie H. Desenberg Endowment to the Buchanan District Library
- $5,000 from the Unity Fund for the Buchanan Area Senior Center
- $2,350 from the Walter E. Schirmer Jr Fund for One Buchanan
- $7,000 from the Unity Fund, Corrie Listenberger Bair Fund, Ann S. Cone Fund for Families & Youth and the Youth Advisory Council Fund.
- $5,000 from the Walter E. Schirmer Jr Fund to the City of Buchanan
- $10,000 from the Walter E. Schirmer Jr Fund and the Mahlon J. and Thelma C. Smith Endowment for Niles
- $2,300 from the Youth Advisory Council Fund to the Buchanan District Library
- $15,637 from the Walter E. Schirmer Jr Fund and Youth Advisory Council Fund to support the Lake Michigan Steamworks program
- $8,000 from Youth Advisory Council Fund and the Healthy Youth Healthy Seniors Fund to the Buchanan District Library and Buchanan Area Senior Center
- $10,000 from the Buchanan Area Fund and the George W. Romney Fund for signage at the Myron Perlman Nature Preserve
