Rotary Foundation Awards over $46,000 in Grants

Over $46,000 from the Lakewood-Rocky River Rotary Foundation will be used to provide scholarships, recognize student achievement, purchase dictionaries, and fund grant requests made by Lakewood and Rocky River community organizations. The awards focused on three main areas – community health and wellness, food and nutrition, and programs that encourage and foster youth leadership.

The Rotary Club of Lakewood and Rocky River will award $9,500 in scholarships to high school seniors, and $4,500 to student winners in the club’s annual speech, music and art competition at the Beck Center on April 7.

The Beck Center’s visual arts program also received $2,500 for club-sponsored scholarships, and $1,440 was used to continue the club’s commitment to provide a dictionary to every third grader in Lakewood and Rocky River.

Magnificat High School received a $2,500 grant for its Seeds of Service project. With construction of the “hoop house” greenhouse on Magnificat’s property, the project is slated to involve over 150 students and deliver more than 200 pounds of fresh, organically-grown produce to Rocky River and Lakewood food banks.

Other grants for youth-related programs were awarded to the following: Mathew’s Lending Library, Recovery Resources, H2O (Help to Others), Rocky River Education Foundation, Lakewood Schools Foundation, and the American Youth Foundation programs at Lakewood and Rocky River high schools.

Lakewood Community Services Center received a $2,000 seed money grant for its Net Works jobs program. Cornucopia Inc. (Nature’s Bin) was awarded $2,000 for its job training program.

Additional community service grants were awarded to the following: North Coast Health Ministry, Lakewood Hospital Foundation, Barton Center, Rocky River Senior Center, Rocky River United Methodist Church “storm team", Trinity Lutheran Community Outreach, Rocky River Assistance Program, Lakewood Charitable Assistance Corp., and Meals on Wheels in Lakewood and Rocky River.