Investing in the Valley: United Way distributes $750,000
Twenty local nonprofits were announced as the beneficiaries of $750,000 in grants from the United Way of the Wabash Valley and the city of Terre Haute on Thursday.
Grants from the city and UWWV's joint Nonprofit Grant Program ranged between $10,000 and $50,000. The money came from American Rescue Plan Act - or ARPA - funding, as approved by the Terre Haute City Council.
"This opportunity allows [the nonprofits] to invest in themselves a little bit, which is usually the first thing that goes in a budget," said Abby Desboro, Executive Director of the United Way of the Wabash Valley. "This is a way for the community to say, 'We believe in you and we want to support your work and help you do more.'"
She added, "I'm really excited about their projects because they vary: everything from infrastructure and buildings to strategic planning and thinking about succession and also investing in their people — staff development, all kinds of different topics."
Volunteers considered 31 different applications to determine the final recipients.
"They used a standard rubric to review their applications and discuss their views — where they thought that they ranked," Desboro said. "It was a lot of hands to decide who would get the funding. It's cool to see a lot of volunteers come together to do that."
Desboro was pleased that a couple of different food pantries were recognized.
The 14th and Chestnut Community Center received $48,500 to "upgrade to commercial-grade refrigerators instead of just a bunch of home refrigerators," she said. "It increases capacity and the amount of fresh food and fruits and vegetables that they can provide their clients."
Catholic Charities received $40,500 to acquire more property. "At their location, they currently don't have a waiting area for their people," Desboro said. "They're moving to where they can have education classes and better equipped people for that."
Reach Services, which provides housing and therapy to the disabled and individuals with special needs, received $50,000 for a new building for its therapy clinic.
"We provide occupational therapy, physical therapy and speech therapy," said Reach Services' Executive Director Brian Schroeder. "We are interested in acquiring this new building so we can not only expand our offerings in our therapy clinic, but also the space that they're currently occupying can be repurposed as affordable housing."
The current location will offer as many as five additional affordable housing units for rent after the new space that meets Reach's needs is located.
"Ideally, we would like something centrally located," Schroeder said. "It's not imperative that it's close to where we're currently located. It's more important for all areas of the city to access it easily."
Indiana Teen Challenge received $50,000 for a 12-passenger van. Though other Teen Challenge outlets have programs for adolescents, in the Wabash Valley the ministry serves men 18 and older, said Adrian Williams.
"Getting this grant for the van will help us in a tremendous way," said Jeremy Touchet. "We bring guys back and forth to work details, we bring them back and forth to church and to special events."
Stephen Donaldson added, "The van is going to be awesome. I've been in this ministry for the last five and a half years, and we've always had hand-me-downs, always working on them, always have them in the shop, spending money on them."
Art Spaces received $12,500 to redesign its website and create a new map of its collection of public-art sculptures. After the announcement, Ally Midgley, executive director of Art Spaces, inspected the area of an upcoming project.
The sculpture usually found to the left of City Hall's entrance is currently in storage while the space it stands in it is upgraded with new benches and other elements that will connect it with the turn to the River sculpture between City Hall and the Vigo County Courthouse. Art Spaces will convert the grassy spot to the right of City Hall into an event space.
The following organizations received funding:
• 14th and Chestnut Community Center: $48,500 for a new commercial-grade walk-in refrigerator, freezer, and flooring to improve food distribution through their pantry.
• Art Spaces: $12,500 for website redesign and a new sculpture collection map.
• Camp Navigate: $38,108 for staff development and enhancements to technical and financial systems, including a marketing and donor management platform.
• Catholic Charities Terre Haute: $40,500 for property acquisition to upgrade agency facilities.
• Community Theater of Terre Haute: $20,360 for network infrastructure upgrades and enhanced security systems.
• Council on Domestic Abuse: $50,000 for renovations to a newly purchased building to expand shelter services.
• Hamilton Center: $38,255 for new chairs to improve sanitation for staff and clients.
• Indiana Teen Challenge: $50,000 for a 12-passenger van to transport residents for work and organizational needs.
• Jonah Inc.: $27,200 for HVAC upgrades and lawn care equipment for affordable housing units.
• Mental Health America of West Central Indiana: $50,000 for strategic planning and infrastructure upgrades, including a new server.
• Next Step Foundation: $37,896 for continuous staff training through a "train the trainer" model.
• Pride Center of Terre Haute: $41,000 for staff training and upgrades to community center space and technology.
• Reach Services: $50,000 for building purchase assistance for therapy clinic relocation.
• Riverscape: $20,802 for a new donor management system and website enhancements.
• reTHink: $49,772 for interior and exterior renovations.
• St. Joseph University Parish: $44,684 for relocating the food pantry to a more functional space.
• Trees Inc.: $18,560 for donor and volunteer management systems.
• Vigo County Historical Society: $11,919 for security upgrades and a new interactive visitor kiosk at the Paul Dresser Home museum.
• Wabash Valley Recovery Center: $50,000 for professional development, equipment upgrades, and strategic planning.
• Western Indiana Community Action Agency: $49,944 for upgrades to the building's temperature control system.
