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Community Spirit Youth Giving Challenge Awards $10,000
in Grant Support to 10 Tri-County Nonprofits
Published: January 04,2025 at 08:00 a.m.
By: Press Release
from NNY Community Foundation
Community Spirit
Youth Giving Challenge Awards $10,000 in Grant Support to 10 Tri-County
Nonprofits
Nearly 120 Northern New York Middle School Students
Across Three Counties Participate
in Eighth Annual Essay-Based Challenge
WATERTOWN — The Northern New
York Community Foundation is pleased to announce $10,000 in Community
Spirit Youth Giving Challenge grants to 10 nonprofit organizations that
serve Jefferson, Lewis, and St. Lawrence counties.
Now in its eighth
year, the Community Spirit Youth Giving Challenge was open to all
tri-county middle school students. This year’s program committee reviewed
119 entries from seventh and eighth graders in nine different school
districts who recommended grants to nearly 65 different organizations that
serve residents across the three counties.
Schools
participating in the 2024-2025 challenge include: Jefferson County — Case
Middle School, Watertown City Schools; General Brown Central School;
Homeschooled student; Indian River Middle School; LaFargeville
Central School; South Jefferson Middle School; Lewis County — Copenhagen
Central School; Lowville Academy & Central School; South Lewis Central
School; St. Lawrence County — Canton Central School; Gouverneur
Central School; Lisbon Central School; Morristown Central School; Potsdam
Central School.
The initiative
was launched in 2017 to introduce middle school students to concepts of
philanthropy and community needs. The challenge seeks to engage youths as
they explore the meaning of community and are empowered to recommend grants
to support their concepts that strengthen the quality of life in the
region. Students write an essay that articulates their definition of
community and explains what makes it a great place to live, work and play.
Participants are then asked to name a charitable organization that makes
their community a better place through its service to residents.
“This program
continues to encourage students at an early age to consider what their role
may be in the betterment of their community,” said Rande S. Richardson,
Community Foundation executive director. “We know that this is helping
plant the seeds that will grow over time and perpetuate a tradition of
civic engagement and investment.”
In the past eight
years, 132 students have been selected to present 139 grants totaling
$80,000 to nearly 100 different nonprofit organizations that serve
tri-county residents. Since the Community Spirit Youth Giving Challenge
began, 961 students representing 26 school districts across the region have
applied to the program, recommending grants to nearly 230 different
charitable organizations.
Charitable organizations students selected for funding this year
range from those that provide support for essential human needs, youth
development, and the elderly, to those that strengthen and enrich our
communities through education, health and wellness, and recreation.
Gifts to the
Friends of the Foundation Annual Community Betterment Fund, as well as
corporate support from Community Bank and a major gift from an anonymous
individual donor, help to underwrite program grants. A committee that
included Community Foundation staff and a retired junior high school
teacher judged and scored the applications with results as follows:
Jefferson County
§ $1,000, Jefferson
County SPCA, Jolene He, General Brown Central School
§ $1,000, Mental
Health Association in Jefferson County, Annabelle Fletcher, Indian
River Middle School
§ $1,000, Watertown
Family YMCA, Lola Johnson, Case Middle School, Watertown
§ $1,000, Roswell
P. Flower Memorial Library, Nicolas Orsini, Case Middle School,
Watertown
§ $1,000, The
Salvation Army Watertown Corps, Blake Sweet, Case Middle School,
Watertown
§ $1,000, Hospice
of Jefferson County, Rohan Bolla, South Jefferson Middle School
Lewis County
§ $1,000, Lewis
County Agricultural Society, Cally Shaw, Lowville Academy &
Central School
St. Lawrence
County
§ $1,000,
Ogdensburg Public Library, Olivia Nowell, Lisbon Central School
§ $1,000, Canton
Free Library, Li Lin, Canton Central School
§ $1,000,
Morristown Backpack Program, Brianna Colby, Morristown Central
School
The Community
Foundation and schools will work with winning students in the coming weeks
to coordinate visits to their respective charitable agencies to present
grants and learn more about the organizations they chose.
About the
Northern New York Community Foundation
Since 1929, the
Northern New York Community Foundation has invested in improving and
enriching the quality of life for all in communities across Jefferson,
Lewis, and St. Lawrence counties.
Through
partnerships with businesses and organizations, charitable foundations, and generous families and individual
donors, the Community Foundation awards grants and scholarships from an
endowment and collection of funds that benefit the region. Its commitment
to donors helps individuals achieve their charitable objectives now and for
generations to come by preserving and honoring legacies of community
philanthropy while inspiring others.
The Community
Foundation is a resource for local charitable organizations, donors,
professional advisors and nonprofit organizations. It also works to bring
people together at its permanent home in the Northern New York Philanthropy
Center to discuss challenges our communities face and find creative solutions
that strengthen the region and make it a great place to live, work, and
play.
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