Hutchinson Community Foundation awards more than $16K in grants

17 Aug Hutchinson Community Foundation awards more than $16K in grants

Hutchinson Community Foundation awarded Fund for Reno County grants totaling $16,300 to three nonprofit organizations in May and July.

Established in 1990, the Fund for Reno County serves as a permanent resource for the changing needs of Reno County. Grants represent an innovative approach or collaboration, a new efficiency, a critical need that requires funding or an opportunity that needs a bit of local support to leverage resources for the community.

Proposals for the grants are accepted year-round, with awards decided in January, March, May, July, September and November.

The following organizations received grants:

Hutchinson School of Tae Kwon Do, $2,700: The school’s vision is to create a place where kids can learn discipline, work ethic and grow their physical and mental health while studying martial arts. It values teaching kids responsibility, hard work and resilience, while also creating friendships with their classmates. Replacing competition mats will benefit local youth as they train and allow the school to provide high-quality equipment when they host the state and national competitions annually in Hutchinson.

Kansas Legal Services (KLS), $3,600: The computers in the Hutchinson KLS office are outdated. Funding will allow KLS to purchase new laptops for the two attorneys and one staff member working in the office serving Reno County. The new technology will allow staff to do their jobs more effectively, ensuring that people who are marginalized and cannot afford to hire their own attorneys are able to secure legal representation and continue to benefit from the advocacy KLS provides.

Kitchen Hero Academy (KHA), $10,000 per year for two years: KHA, in year three of a collaboration with Spark United Church of the Nazarene, is a 10-week summer cooking program for low-income middle-schoolers in USD 308. The program supports the health and well-being of families through teaching them how to identify and prepare cost-effective foods with higher nutritional value. Multi-year funding will help ensure the program has the resources needed to continue providing this experience at no cost to participating low-income families, while allowing staff to allocate more time to programming and relationship building than fundraising. A high school version of KHA is being developed next summer.

Hutchinson Community Foundation’s mission is to inspire philanthropy, collaboration and innovative leadership to strengthen Reno County communities. Since 1989, the foundation has granted more than $93 million to organizations.