by Babs Cape –
We wished we could vote “yes” on all the grant requests!
Voting Night is the highlight of the SoS year. It’s also the hardest time for members of Seeds of Strength. This year was no exception. How can we decide which to choose from among these amazing community organizations asking for our assistance?
Voting Nights wake us to the needs around us: from assistance with the aged and their care givers to helping young girls become their best to providing nourishment for hungry children to a place for crime victims with nowhere to go and no one to care or to help, all have needs and are worthy of our help. The $160,000 available for grants sounds like a lot, but when we heard from 13 diversified groups doing incredible work to help our Georgetown community, it turned out that the needs exceeded the money available.
After the members’ votes were tallied, Seeds of Strength presented funds to eight of these very special organizations, all on a common mission: build, support and benefit Georgetown by helping those who need it most.
AGE of Central Texas: Awarded $10,000. Provides assistance and counseling and a place for those dealing with dementia as well as the loved ones giving them care. SoS will provide for a new part-time staff person to professionally guide and support the Memory Connections program for those facing the traumatic challenges of aging and caregiving.
BACKPACK BUDDIES: Awarded $20,000. Through volunteers and financial gifts, food is bought and packed to provide for children over weekends, when there may be no other source of healthy food. Up to 900 children, K-8th, will be helped. SoS will add to the available money for the food as this number continues to grow.
GIRLSTART: Awarded $10,000. To date, 342 Georgetown residents have already been assisted in getting the counseling, training, and planning for STEM occupations (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) to make a better life. Girlstart helps high-need girls build for a future, with a good job and the tools for keeping that good job.
HABITAT FOR HUMANITY, WILLIAMSON COUNTY: Awarded $24.600. Becoming a homeowner gives a person not only a place of shelter and the feeling of ownership, but it gives the new owner confidence, strength and hope. Family members can bloom with this basic cornerstone. With our funds going toward materials and construction costs, it will be possible to build 3 new homes in Georgetown. Three families will have a new chance in life.
HOPE ALLIANCE: Awarded $25,000: When a family is torn asunder and violence threatens everyday life, cries for help go out, but to whom, where? What can anyone do? Hope Alliance hears those pleas. With our funds, Hope Alliance will provide Night and Weekend Advocates in the Residential Program (emergency shelter)—someone to call when these families are desperate for assistance .
LITERACY COUNCIL OF WILLIAMSON COUNTY: Awarded $20,400. How does a child or an adult, male or female, get ahead without being able to read? How can one build a life without skills for decent work? Classes and training for our community members in need are offered by the council. Basic literacy and vocational training give the step up to improve lives. Our funds will help the council grow these programs.
R.O.C.K.: Awarded $25,000. Ride On Center for Kids is one of those incredible ideas that has come to fruition. Lives of children and military veterans have been turned around. The concept and the execution of the programs make for a moving novel or film. The interaction of kids who have physical or neurological issues with horses is a success story. Our funds will help underwrite Therapy for Underserved Children with Disabilities..
THE GEORGETOWN PROJECT: Awarded $25,000. It is alarming to learn of the many youth right here in Georgetown who face homelessness and abuse, yet who have no parent or guardian to help with school and daily life. The NEST provides this kind of care for our young people in stress. With our funds, they will be able to add a much-needed part-time case manager to assist in providing basic needs, counseling, tutoring and skill-building, so much missing for these kids.
Another year, another amazing garden planted!
Just think, with our amazing SoS women giving $160,000 this year to make Georgetown better for everyone, what can we do next year? SoS members truly care and pull together in many ways to help the disadvantaged. With even more members, we can help even more people in our community. We can give assistance to more of our great organizations delivering services to our neighbors! Let’s do it!