St. Cloud, Minn. – The Women’s Fund of Central Minnesota Community Foundation and Julianne Williams Fund announced today the recipients of their annual grants, totaling $52,000. The grants were awarded to twelve area organizations focusing on improving the lives of women and girls in central Minnesota.
Since 2002, the Women’s Fund of the Central Minnesota Community Foundation has been dedicated to strengthening the community by improving the lives of women and girls. The Women’s Fund has granted over $1.2 million to support local programs in three core focus areas: girls age 10-18, women in transition and elder women.
The Women’s Fund allocated almost $44,000 between the following nine organizations:
- $8,000 to Anna Marie’s Alliance for the shelter.
- $7,946 to Helping Hands Outreach-Holdingford for their elder women programming for active aging and healthy living.
- $5,000 to Big Brothers Big Sisters of Central Minnesota for mentoring of young girls.
- $5,000 to Central Minnesota Youth for Christ for the Braid program which works with middle school and high school girls.
- $4,900 to CentraCare-St. Cloud for the St. Cloud Hospital’s program Recovery Plus to work with women.
- $4,500 to True Friends-Annandale for therapeutic riding for girls with disabilities.
- $4,033 to St. Cloud State University for the Pinata Project.
- $2,500 to African Women’s Center for early childhood oral health education and treatment.
- $2,000 to the Boys and Girls Club of Central Minnesota for their Healthy Habits for Girls program.
Additionally, the Julianne Williams Fund awarded $8,500 in grants to three organizations. The Julianne Williams Fund was established to honor the life of Julianne Marie Williams, reflect the essence of Julie and promote the building of self-esteem, safety, confidence and overall empowerment of girls and young woman through outdoor activities. Those grant recipients are:
- $2,500 to True Friends-Annandale for helping girls with disabilities benefit from summer camp
- $3,000 to Central Minnesota Youth For Christ for camp scholarships for their Braid Program
- $3,000 to Girls Scouts of Minnesota and Wisconsin Lakes and Pines for Girl Scouts in ACTION camp adventure.
The Central Minnesota Community Foundation (CMCF) in affiliation with CommunityGiving, is a public charity that attracts and administers charitable funds for the benefit of the local community. Since 1985, CMCF has grown to over $78 million in assets and awarded over $5.2 million in grants to local non-profits in 2015. CommunityGiving is a partnership of four community foundations, including Alexandria Area Community Foundation, Brainerd Lakes Area Community Foundation, Central Minnesota Community Foundation and Willmar Area Community Foundation. CommunityGiving administers more than 650 funds totaling more than $115 million. Learn more at CommunityGiving.org.