Written by Kay Bouyack
The Scioto Foundation announced astonishing results for 2023 Scioto Gives and an award winning grant for Scioto 365 at a reception for participating nonprofit representatives and members of the community leadership initiative held on November 14.
Once again, the Scioto Gives program yielded remarkable results in funds raised for the 48 nonprofits who worked to increase their endowment funds invested at the Scioto Foundation. A total of $172,215.16 in donations came in during the 12 hour Scioto Gives program on October 19, matched by $55,000 from the Scioto Foundation for a grand total of $227,215.16. This year’s amount was only 3 dollars and a few cents less than 2022’s record-setting grand total of $227,218.60.
The Scioto Foundation staff reported that this year’s contributions numbered 634, the same as in the 2022 campaign. The highest amount raised by a nonprofit was $47,925 with a match of $15,336 for a total of $63,261 by Portsmouth Murals, Inc. , as announced by Foundation Executive Director Kim Cutlip at the November 14 reception for representatives of the participating groups.
Also included in the top five fundraising organizations were Sierra’s Haven for New and Used Pets which raised $15,330 matched by $4,905.60 for a total of $20,235.60; the Paul & Kevin Johnson Main Street Portsmouth Endowment which raised $12,425 matched by $3,976 for a total of $16,401; the Steven Hunter Hope Fund which raised $11,885 matched by $3,803.20 for a total of $15,688.20; and the Animal Welfare League of Scioto County which raised $8,905, matched by $2,849.60 for a total of $11,754.60.
Honorable Mentions went to the Scenic Scioto Trail, Inc., $5,945 with a match of $1,902.40 for a total of $7,847.40.; Habitat for Humanity of the Tri-State, $5,857.03 with a match of $1,874.25 and a total of $7,731.28; Friends of Greenlawn Cemetery Foundation, $5,330 with a match of $1,705.60 and a total of $7,035.60; Ohio River Valley T1D, $5,305 with a match of $1,697.60 and a total of $7002.60; and the CAY Memorial, $4,760 with a match of $1,523.20 and a total of $6,283.20.
This year four additional nonprofits joined the 44 organizations who participated in the 2022 campaign. They were Scioto County Special Olympics, Scioto Literary, St. Francis Outreach & Charitable Giving and The Trillium Project. All together the four new participants raised a total of $13,237.80 to add to this year’s grand total.
During the November reception Patty Tennant, Program Director – Donor Services, also announced the recipient of the 2023 Scioto 365 grant award chosen by a vote of Scioto 356 members. The Rarden Daily Bread Soup Kitchen received a grant of $15,000 to assist the rural organization in installing structural necessities in their new building to meet state regulations so that they can achieve occupancy and continue to provide hot meals for those in need.
In March of 2020 at the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic, a group of community members in Rarden, Ohio, began providing free hot meals once a day to anyone who came to the Rarden Community Center hungry. Three and a half years later Rarden Daily Bread has provided nearly 4,000 meals as of last August to individuals not only from Rarden, but also from much of northwestern Scioto County, as well as some from nearby Pike and Adams Counties.
“Our area is rural and remote, with more than a third of Rarden Township’s residents living in poverty and nearly half its children. Many depend on gas station convenient stories and dollar stores for groceries since the nearest groceries are fifteen or more miles away, meaning healthy fruits and vegetables may not be available for many families,” wrote Pamela Syroney, President of the Rarden Daily Bread Board of Governors, in her Scioto 365 grant application.
The number of meals served by the group has grown from 25 per day to more than 125 per day. As the number of meals served has increased, so has the need for new space for the community soup kitchen, according to Syroney.
“Through a grant from the Scioto County Commissioners, Rarden Daily Bread was able to purchase a 40’ x 60’ building in 2022 and began the work of remodeling it,” said Syroney. “A great deal of work has already been completed and we have purchased and/or received equipment donations, but more work must be done.”
“With the Scioto 365 grant proposal we requested funding from the Scioto Foundation that will allow us to furnish and install metal panels on the bottom of the existing trusses of the building. The purchase of the metal panels is for fire prevention and insulation to meet state regulations so that we can gain occupancy and continue our mission.”
Two other community organizations submitted applications for the 2023 Scioto 365 award. They were Main Street Portsmouth in Bloom for “River Way Stay and Play,” picnic tables for York Park, and the West Portsmouth Youth Sports Complex for “Addition of Volleyball and Pickleball to a new gym floor.”
Scioto 365 is the Scioto Foundation’s member-funded impact grant-making program which asks members to donate $365 a year, of which 50% goes into endowments for future awards, and 50% goes into grants to be awarded toward current community projects. The program is designed for members to connect with other donors to select grants that positively affect our community in an effort to help create and sustain vibrant, healthy and safe neighborhoods. Scioto 365 offers donors a voice they might not typically have: the power to leverage funds to make a collective impact upon our community
Further information about the Scioto Foundation’s Scioto Gives and Scioto 365 programs may be obtained by contacting Tennant at (740) 354-4612 or patty@thesciotofoundation.org.