The Lillian L. Colby Charitable Foundation has awarded $145,000 in grants this fall to 11 local organizations which play an instrumental role in assisting individuals and families and in cultivating a healthy, safe and culturally-vivid Chattanooga. Committed to supporting organizations such as the Chattanooga Symphony & Opera, Wayside Presbyterian Church, Chattanooga Area Food Bank, Volunteers in Medicine-Chattanooga, and others that care for the hungry, homeless, battered, downtrodden and poverty-stricken individuals and families of the Greater Chattanooga area, the Lillian Colby Foundation awards charitable grants in the spring and fall of each year.
In 2014, the foundation invested a total of $256,250 into the local community, including the following recipients for its 2014 fall grants:
|
Boys and Girls Club of Chattanooga
|
$10,000
|
Metropolitan Ministries
|
$22,500
|
|
Chattanooga Area Food Bank
|
$10,000
|
The Next Door
|
$5,000
|
|
Chattanooga Community Kitchen
|
$25,000
|
Partnership for Families, Children and Adults
|
$10,000
|
|
Chattanooga Room in the Inn
|
$10,000
|
Volunteers in Medicine-Chattanooga, Inc.
|
$10,000
|
|
Chattanooga Symphony & Opera
|
$25,000
|
Wayside Presbyterian Church
|
$12,500
|
|
The Hart Gallery
|
$5,000
|
|
|
“We are grateful to these organizations that demonstrate relevant, sustainable initiatives, while making great strides toward their goals of assisting individuals and developing our community,” said Jim “JV” Vaughn, president of the Lillian Colby Foundation. “Their focuses directly align with the Lillian Colby Foundation’s mission to relieve the suffering of the poor, downtrodden, homeless, hungry and battered, along with cultural and artistic advancement throughout the Chattanooga region.”
This year’s fall grants will be applied toward a variety of noteworthy community initiatives, including medical care for a minimum of 110 underinsured patients, musical outreach activities by the CSO, lunch programs for up to 400 underprivileged children, as well as programs focused on homelessness prevention and the strengthening of domestic violence survivors. Other Colby Foundation grants will be used to provide food and shelter for the homeless of Chattanooga and support an afterschool art and literacy education program for elementary school children from many of Chattanooga’s low-income neighborhoods.
Founded in 2012 under the trust agreement of the late Lillian L. Colby, a local school teacher with a lifelong passion for music and art and an unyielding commitment to community development, the Colby Foundation offers bi-annual community grants for capital, operating, program and project support. Local and regional organizations dedicated to improving the quality of life in the Greater Chattanooga area are invited to apply each year.
To learn more about the Lillian Colby Foundation or to apply for a spring 2015 grant award, visit www.lilliancolby.org.