Past Blessings Project Foundation Grant Recipients
After Gateway
After Gateway, based in Greensboro NC, is the only day program in the area serving adults with severe developmental disabilities and traumatic brain injuries.
Arts for Life
Arts for Life is dedicated to improving lives of adolescents facing serious illness and disabilities by providing hands-on experiences in visual art, creative writing and music. www.aflnc.org
Image credit: “Boo” Watercolor Painting by Macena, Age 5
The Barnabas Network
The Barnabus Network of Greensboro NC provides home furnishings to families facing major challenges.
Bethesda Center for the Homeless
Due to extreme local winter weather conditions, the Blessings Project Foundation awarded a grant to the Bethesda Center for the Homeless for emergency assistance to help provide shelter to 100 men and women. www.bethesdacenter.org
Brenner FIT
Brenner FIT is an innovative program of Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center for overweight/obese adolescents.
Clemmons School Park
Blessings Project Foundation funding helped construct the Clemmons School Park in conjunction with the Forsyth County Broncos Athletic Association. The “Blessings Project Outdoor Shelter” is on the campus of the Clemmons Elementary School providing restroom facilities, shade and water fountains for use by the entire community.
Coalition to Unchain Dogs
In less than three years, volunteers from the Coalition to Unchain Dogs have freed over 425 dogs from their chains and provided vaccinations and spay or neuter for each. The Foundation supported the Coalition as they began their efforts in Durham and helped fund their expansion to the Triad. www.unchaindogs.net
Duplin Christian Outreach Ministries
Duplin Christian Outreach Ministries is located in Wallace, NC—an area underserved by public transportation and deeply affected by the recession. Their mission is much like Crisis Control here in Winston-Salem—assisting with emergency needs for people who are contributing to their own well-being but down on their luck.
ECHO Council
The ECHO Council’s mission is to provide opportunities to build enriching, trusting, and long-lasting relationships among diverse people in our community. www.echonetwork.org
Goler Community Garden at the Downtown Health Plaza
The Goler Community Garden at DHP brings together diverse groups of people with little access to fresh fruits and vegetables to foster health and nutrition. Labor for construction over the past two years has been provided by volunteers and costs have been met through donations from individuals, mostly the volunteers.
Goler Community Garden on Facebook
Group Homes of Forsyth County, Inc.
Group Homes of Forsyth County serves residential care and training for adults with mental retardation and other developmental disabilities. Granted funds provided them with the ability to continue with an existing photo/audio essay “The Story of My Life”—to create a broader public understanding of their life struggles. Clients are expressing their stories through photography assisted by local professional photographer, Christine Rucker.
www.grphms.com
Referenced Video: www.vimeo.com/14609628
Haiti Relief Fund
After the Haiti disaster, the Blessings Project Foundation offered a matching donation to our Haiti Relief Fund, along with the Geneva Global’s Haiti Earthquake Recovery Fund and the Philadelphia Foundation. Together, we quadrupled local individual donations for a total of $25,000 in direct relief in Haiti. www.genevaglobal.com
Healing Seekers
Healing Seekers is an organization dedicated to exploring and preserving healing modalities in diverse cultural traditions throughout the world. Blessings Project Foundation funding supported the filming and production of a documentary created by the Healing Seekers. www.healingseekers.com
Heartstrings
Heartstrings Pregnancy and Loss Center uses non-traditional group format—conducted by trained accredited professionals, to assist families grieving the loss of a baby—“from conception to one year of age.” The groups is endorsed by our local Hospice who has provided these services for more than 20 years and often collaborate on workshops and counseling sessions.
www.heartstringssupport.org
Humane Solutions Spay/Neuter Inc.
Humane Solutions Spay/Neuter Inc. of Winston-Salem is an all-volunteer non-profit that provides safe and affordable spay/neuter surgeries in and around WS/FC. A grant from the Blessings Project Foundation provided vaccination vouchers for 30 veterinary practices who discount their services for Humane Solution.
The Keeper of the Mountains Foundation
The Blessings Project Foundation has supported Larry Gibson, the Keeper of the Mountains’, efforts to protect his family’s land and others who live on or near Kayford Mountain, West Virginia from mountain top removal coal mining. www.mountainkeeper.org
Little Pearls
Little Pearls are “tiny films” that open hearts and minds, inspiring authentic connection and compassionate action on behalf of all living beings. www.littlepearls.org
Lloyd Presbyterian Church, Preservation Fund
Lloyd Presbyterian Church is the second oldest African American church in Forsyth County, NC. Our grant made the Foundation part of a larger community working to preserve this significant landmark.
March on Blair Mountain
Friends of Blair Mountain conducted a 50-mile, five day march on Blair Mountain, WVA to “redress the severe human rights abuses perpetuated on the miners and their families by the coal industry.” The project is in sync with the Foundation’s dedication to preserve the land, to assist those who are working for mountain preservation and to assist the residents.
www.marchonblairmountain.org
National Committee for the New River
The mission of the National Committee of the New River is to protect the New River from polluters and inappropriate development. NCNR serves people and communities in the New River Watershed in North Carolina, Virginia and West Virginia.
Photographer Carl Galie, who also works for the West Virginia anti-coal mining initiatives, has dedicated his time and professional photography to exhibitions that create community awareness. Granted funding supported Carl’s New River exhibitions.
Organization’s website: www.ncnr.org
Carl Galie’s website: www.carlgaliephotography.com
The NC Conservation Network
The NC Conservation Network was formed to strengthen the environmental community’s ability to impact environmental policy and address environmental justice issues. www.ncconservationnetwork.org
The Nyanya Project
The Nyanya Project “creates sustainable, grandmother cooperatives [water, crafts, sheep and shelters] in villages and cities throughout Africa” for women raising their grandchildren who have been orphaned by AIDS. The Nyanya Project opened the Raila Odinga Nyanya Pre-School Center in Kenya in July 2009. A Blessings Project Foundation grant assisted the Nyanya Project to open a second Pre-School Center 2010. www.nyanyaproject.org
Parents, Families, and Friends of Lesbians and Gays
The Youth Abandonment and Homelessness Association (YAHA), a committee of Parents, Families, and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG) Winston-Salem was a recipient of a Blessings Project Foundation grant to develop training materials on tolerance, acceptance and compassion to educate public official and others who teens turn to when they are struggling with issues such as homeless and suicide. www.pflagwinstonsalem.org
Piedmont Environmental Alliance (PEA)
Piedmont Environmental Alliance (PEA) is dedicated to facilitating environmental sustainability in the Piedmont Triad. The Piedmont Earth Day Fair, supported in part by the Blessings Project Foundation, has become the largest single event in the Triad dedicated to providing education and information about sustainable solutions available in our community. www.peanc.org
People of Winston-Salem Art Reclamation (!POWAR!)
The goal of !POWAR! is to bring together youth, professional artists and communities to partner in public art activities and dissuade graffiti and gang violence. Granted funds provided a summer arts experience for underprivileged, at-risk teens to help them with beautification of neighborhoods and to provide constructive arts experiences. The program also follows students into the school year to encourage scholastic performance.
Prodigals
Prodigals is the only long-term residential treatment program in the area specifically designed for the indigent, uninsured and often homeless substance abusers who have a history of chronic relapse and multiple, unsuccessful attempts at recovery. A Blessings Project Foundation grant provided funding for very basic but much needed repair to facilities they have up fitted to provide safe and livable housing for clients who are moving from transient living to responsible drug-free living. http://www.prodigals.org/
Project Greenhouse
Project Greenhouse – Building healthy bodies and strong minds – is working with youth to teach 4-H youth about growing, germination, proper care of soil.
The Shalom Project
The Shalom Project’s Afterschool/Kids Café provides homework help, art enrichment activities and nutritious meals to local children. A grant from the Foundation provided funding to this well-established program that offers critical services to under-served Hispanic and other minority children.
stone circles at The Stone House
Stone Circles provides workshops, retreats and leadership training for community leaders and activists who work for social change. The funding supported a “soul sanctuary” to assist the change agents to learn new practices and address burnout often experienced by activists and to increase the effectiveness and sustainability of their efforts.
www.stonecircles.org
Student Action with Farmworkers
Student Action with Farmworkers works for healthier communities through their efforts to improve farmers’ access to health care, decent housing and safer workplaces. www.saf-unite.org
Sustainable Alamance
Sustainable Alamance is dedicated to assisting men and women with criminal histories to become productive citizens. The Blessings Project Foundation funding helped provide transportation assistance including repairs to a bio-diesel-fueled mini-bus that helps clients get to and from their jobs.www.sustainablealamance.org
The Trinity Center
The Trinity Center has served the community for 28 years with counseling, educational and professional services, offering services at reduced rates for financially disadvantaged clients. A grant from the Foundation will replace a failing heat pump due to a lightening strike and subsequent fire in 2009.
The Well of Mercy
The Well of Mercy is a ministry of hospitality and healing sponsored by the Sisters of Mercy that provides a quiet sanctuary for adults seeking reconnection with self, others, God and creation. The Center is funded by voluntary guest donations. Funding from the Blessings Project Foundation supplemented guest donations. www.wellofmercy.org
Winston-Salem Youth Chorus
The Blessings Project Foundation helped fund Jumpstart, a program that enables the Winston-Salem Youth Chorus to go out into the community and provide under-served children access to artistic opportunities in music. www.wsyouthchorus.org
The Yadkin Riverkeeper
The Yadkin Riverkeeper’s mission is to respect, protect and improve the Yadkin Pee Dee River Basin through education, advocacy and action. www.yadkinriverkeeper.org
The Zo
The Blessings Project Foundation, in association with a private donor, helped support the production of Glenda Wharton’s film, The Zo, which debuted at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival. Each meticulously hand drawn cell is a testament to Glenda’s artistic ability, and to her dedication to raise awareness about child abuse. www.zoplayroom.com
