07/15/2022
July 7, 2022
For immediate release
Glastonbury Greater Together Community Fund Supports New Youth Leadership Program and Other Local Projects
The Glastonbury Community Fund at Hartford Foundation Awards $28,000 in Grants to 11 Nonprofits Serving Glastonbury Residents
Since 2000, Glastonbury resident Rochelle Ripley and founder of Hawkwing, Inc. has worked to improve the lives of some 12,000 Native Americans struggling to survive on the Cheyenne River Sioux Reservation in an isolated area of South Dakota. Her nonprofit has delivered an estimated $9 million in services and goods to the Lakota people and earned Rochelle Ripley the prestigious CNN Hero award. Now her organization is seeking to make an impact right here in the community of Glastonbury.
Hawkwing is launching the Youth Leadership and Giveback Experience – an innovative new program to develop Glastonbury youth leaders who are then tasked with making a positive and meaningful impact on Glastonbury’s community needs.
As part of this program, Hawkwing will partner with area corporate donors to distribute free needed items to Glastonbury low-income households, foster families, individuals with special needs or disabilities, seniors, veterans, or immigrants.
“Our goal is to positively impact as many youths as possible to help create a generation of helpers – people who seek to help their communities through projects that improve the lives of those around them,” said Jennifer Ripley, Program Manager and Board Vice President of Hawkwing. “In our program for youths ages 13-17, young adults develop leadership and project management skills that will help them make an impact in their communities. Participants build new bonds of trust and friendship through a hands-on, interactive curriculum. With planning and executing a community service project, youths will discover what a difference they can make by working together. Like a stone cast into a pond that sends out ripples, we hope each youth will send out a ripple of positive impacts into the world around them in their lifetime.”
A $4,500 grant to support Hawkwing’s project was among $28,000 in grants awarded to 11 nonprofits serving Glastonbury residents through the Glastonbury Greater Together Community Fund at the Hartford Foundation for Public Giving.
The Glastonbury Greater Together Community Fund was established by the Hartford Foundation for Public Giving in 2019. The fund supports organizations that benefit people and institutions in Glastonbury in the areas of health, education, social welfare, arts, culture, and the environment, including town beautification and preservation of heritage.
Other grants awarded were:
o Community Health Resources, $4,500 to support Project Zero Su***de, an evidence-based su***de prevention training to support over three hundred Glastonbury residents at-risk of su***de annually.
o Glastonbury Arts, Inc., $2,500 to support six symposiums (lectures/demonstrations/hand-on) of their Got Art Series.
o Glastonbury MLK Community Initiative, $1,000 to support efforts to promote social justice and civil rights at the town-wide celebration of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr’s Birthday in 2023.
o Glastonbury Partners in Planting, Inc., $1,000 to support two projects: 1) The planting of pollinators at the Welles Turner Public Library to replace plantings destroyed from recent construction. 2) Building a Kiosk to provide community information/education at the Glastonbury Community Gardens.
o Glastonbury River Runners, $1,250 to support the Rising Stars Youth Running Program which promotes health, wellness, and activity for nearly two hundred Glastonbury children, 4-12 years of age.
o Hartford Interval House, Inc., $4,000 to provide life-saving services to Glastonbury residents who are victims of domestic violence through the Interval House’s Victim to Survivor program.
o Operation Fuel, Inc., $4,000 to provide emergency energy assistance for low- and moderate- income families living in Glastonbury, a growing need due to the current rising energy costs.
o Special Olympics of Connecticut, $2,000 to support Glastonbury athletes with intellectual disabilities at the 2022 Glastonbury Special Olympics.
o Town of Glastonbury (Fiduciary for Poetry in Public), $1,000 to support an innovative new effort to bring poetry alive in outdoor settings for people of all ages. This effort directly links to the Town of Glastonbury’s Age Friendly Plan.
o UR Community Cares, Inc., $2,250 to continue to support connecting Glastonbury’s older and physically disabled residents with local volunteers who provide home-based assistance securely and at no-charge.
The Hartford Foundation for Public Giving is the community foundation for Hartford and 28 surrounding communities. Made possible by the gifts of generous individuals, families and organizations, the Foundation has awarded grants of more than $837 million since its founding in 1925.The Glastonbury Community Fund has awarded more than $50 thousand in the past two years. For more information about the Hartford Foundation for Public Giving or the Glastonbury Community Fund, visit www.hfpg.org or call 860-548-1888.
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The Hartford Foundation for Public Giving works with donors, nonprofits and community leaders to put resources into action for Greater Hartford.
