Optimist International Foundation has grants

We’ve got grants!

This is a busy time at the Optimist International Foundation, as we prepare for our Club Grants, and take applications for our first round of Childhood Health and Wellness grants.

Get Creative with Club Grants What do youth gardening programs, duffle bags for foster children, playground improvements and a cornhole tournament for autism awareness all have in common? They’re all projects that won Optimist International Foundation Club Grants in 2019. Applications are open for 2020 Club Grants, allowing Optimists to get creative in how they serve their communities. Any Adult Club served by OIF is eligible to apply for a $500 grant for a new project of the Club. The project must start and finish between April 2020 and March 2021. Grants to Clubs will be matching grants, with Clubs expected to show plans for matching the money and reporting the results. Clubs will complete a followup report. Applications must be received in the OI Foundation Headquarters office by March 13. Recipients will be notified May 8. Winning ideas from last year include the Youth Gardening Club, by the Optimist Club of Blair, Nebraska; the Summer Send Off Bicycle Helmet Giveaway by the Optimist Club of Appleton, Wisconsin; and Duffle Bags for Foster Kids by the Optimist Club of Roseburg, Oregon. Childhood Health and Wellness Grants Optimists have long supported children’s health and well-being, and they now have a new avenue to support those programs in their communities. This year, the OIF is proud to unveil its first round of applications for grants, in support of OI’s new focus on Childhood Health and Wellness.

24 • Optimist “There are a lot of good ideas out there across the whole Optimist family of ways to promote health in your own community, whether it’s big or small,” Lloyd says. “There are different ways to help that maybe you haven’t thought of before. It’s all about helping your community and creating relationships with kids in your community.” Projects falling under this could include backpack programs that provide children with nutrition over weekends and school breaks; gardening projects that teach kids how to grow food; or a school or community hygiene closet that makes it easy for kids to access soap, deodorant or other items that they might not get at home. The grants of up to $1,000 will be distributed in the following areas. • Healthy Lifestyles (e.g., Physical Fitness, Nutrition) • Chronic Diseases (e.g., Childhood Cancer, Juvenile Diabetes, MS, Ronald McDonald House) • Mental Health (e.g., Depression, Abuse) • Disabilities – Physical, Intellectual & Developmental (e.g., Autism, Special Olympics) The first round of Childhood Health and Wellness grants will be due Feb. 29. Additional deadlines for the year are May 31, and August 30.

Visit www.oifoundation.org for complete information on both of these programs.