By -
Senior Outpost Commander Kevin Penner accepts a check from Scott Wilson, chair of the FACF advisory committee
The Fosston Area Community Fund (FACF) recently awarded grant funding to Royal Rangers Outpost 99.  The Ranger organization submitted a proposal, requesting funds from FACF in response to a request for proposals that was released in January of this year.

Ranger Outpost 99 at Bethel Assembly in Fosston mentors children, ages 3-12, using a nationally recognized program, Royal Rangers, International.  The program incorporates friendship, activities, an advancement system, interactive learning, uniforms, a patrol system, and service and ministry outreach.  Adult leaders mentor kids through building friendships and implementing fun activities. Through hands-on, experiential learning, children build self-esteem, team-building skills, and leadership skills. The program is open to all children, within the specified age range, regardless of church affiliation.

The funds that were awarded by FACF will be used by the Rangers to purchase much-needed camping equipment. Camping is one of the most effective and beloved of all the experiential learning activities undertaken by Rangers Outpost 99.  Senior Outpost Commander Kevin Penner was very thankful to FACF for the award. “New camping equipment has been on our wish list for a long time,” Penner said. “This will enable us to do some things that we would not have been able to do otherwise.”

FACF is in the process of building an endowment fund.  The short-term goal is build an endowment fund of $250,000.  Each year, grants will be made available to organizations in the community, out of the earnings of the fund.  According to Scott Wilson, President of the Fosston Area Community Fund, “As we build the fund and increase the size of the endowment, we will be able to make more awards like the one we gave to the Rangers.”  Wilson added, “There are many great nonprofit organizations in our community, doing lots of good work.  The main reason behind FACF is to help fund the good work that they do.”



FACF anticipates announcing the availability of another round of funding late summer/early fall.  Nonprofit organizations within the geographic area covered by the Fosston school district will be eligible to apply. 

For more information about the fund, visit www.fosstonacf.org

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Frank and Marg Marvin

By -
Image
In honor of NMF's upcoming 30th anniversary and National Philanthropy Month, we want to celebrate the contributions of our donors! We will be highlighting a donor a day for the month of November. Please be sure to check the blog often to read about the wonderful stories of giving back to the northwest region.  If you are interested in making a difference through the services of our community foundation, our development officers would be happy to assist you. Please contact Caryl Turnow or Lisa Peterson at 218-759-2057 to learn more. Frank and Marg Marvin, Warroad The year is 1931 and a frustrated Dorrance Johnston has a degree in Engineering with no jobs to be found. Persistent and not willing to give up, he offered to work for a year without pay just to get a foot in the door. This is a mere glimpse at who Margaret “Marg” (Johnston) Marvin’s father was. Marg was born and raised in Warroad, and then met her husband Frank Marvin in their shared hometown. Both of their f
Read more

NMF Working to Address the Region's Child Care Needs

By -
Image
Ensuring families have access to quality child care is a high priority task for NMF. Our region has the third largest deficit for child care needs in the state. We are faced with 41% of families not having access to child care spots for their children. This means 41% of families are struggling to find safe and affordable child care for their children so they can go to work. The Center for Rural Policy and Development recently published a fact sheet that provides insight on this issue. The main barriers that they pointed out were the following: Until more can be done to increase wages and/or profits for both center and family providers, the child care shortage will continue Low pay for workforce makes recruitment and retention a major hurdle. Providers feel they can't raise rates because parents can't afford to pay more. Under this scenario, providers can't make a profit or be sustainable. The high startup costs make for very high barriers to entry for the av
Read more

Peacemaker Resources Paves the Way for Lifelong Learning in the Classroom

By -
Image
(Left to right) Caige Jambor, Sharleen Zeman-Sperle, and Stacy Bender-Fayette, SEL Specialists at Peacemaker Resources, work together to plan the upcoming school year. The mission of  Peacemaker Resources  is to "foster communication, compassion and connection leading to respectful relationships and healthier individuals and communities" and they achieve this by bringing their  social emotional learning  curriculum to elementary and middle schools around the state. They were also a recipient of the  NMF Quality of Place award in 2016 .  What makes their curriculum distinctive?   Barb   Houg, Executive Director, says,  " Its preventative approach, its relevance for children of all ages, and its lifelong impact." The curriculum that Peacemaker Resources is bringing into schools includes a number of programs -  STAR (Students Teaching Attitudes of Respect) ,  Girls Lead ,  Cultural Responsiveness ,  SEL (Social Emotional Learning) ,  Mindfulness , and  Tr
Read more