Grants Awarded for International Community Service05:44PM / Friday, June 12, 2009
GREAT BARRINGTON, Mass. - Finland, South Africa, Belize and Ecuador are among the countries where local youth will perform community services this summer, thanks to grants from the Alice and Richard Henriquez Fund/Youth World Awareness Program, a fund of Berkshire Taconic Community Foundation. Eight high school students and four nonprofit organizations received grants totaling $12,500 from the program, which supports travel and humanitarian work in foreign countries by young people ages 14-22.
Grants were awarded to:
Hannah Leonard, Wingdale, NY: $1,000 to participate in the Volunteers for Peace Program at the World Village Festival in Helsinki, Finland for two weeks.
Jeffrey Lowenstein, Sheffield, MA: $950 to volunteer in Ecuador at Bilsa Biological Station, a nature reserve and center for field research.
Kelsa Summer, Hillsdale, NY: $1,500 for a two-month volunteer program with the Uberlingen Waldorf School to build a school and orphanage in Cape Town, South Africa.
Thalia Rossiter, North Adams, MA and Rebekah Packer, Williamstown, MA: $500 each to participate in the Rural Literacy Project Community Exchange in Belize.
Eliza Denmore, Williamstown, MA: $500 to volunteer with Sustainable Harvest International in Honduras, which provides training and tools to farming families
Chelsea Ziegler, Sharon, CT: $1,500 to volunteer in an orphanage as part of a community service program in Ghana, Africa with the American Field Service.
Lisa Carlson, Copake, NY: $1,100 to volunteer in Cape Town, South Africa at the Masiacine Children’s Home for abandoned and orphaned children.
Bard College, Annandale, NY: $1,200 for two students to organize and facilitate the Palestinian Language and Thinking Initiative, an overnight camp in a West Bank village that combines intensive writing experiences and leadership development for Palestinian youth.
Bard College, Annandale, NY: $750 to support volunteers for the Nicaragua Project in which students work side by side with local families building homes along the rural and impoverished Western Coast of Nicaragua.
Haitian Community Development Program, Hudson, NY: $1,200 to sponsor two volunteers for a comprehensive educational outreach program in Haiti to promote innovative and creative waste reduction processes.
COTY Youth Center, North Adams, MA: $1,800 to aid student teams participating in the Haiti Plunge Program, which builds infrastructure in a nine village co-operative in the central plateau of Haiti.
A committee of local residents reviews the grant applications based on the potential impact of the experience on the applicant, the ability of the applicant to carry out the project, and the likelihood of the project to have a positive impact on the community served. The next deadline for The Alice and Richard Henriquez Fund/Youth World Awareness Program grant application is April 1, 2010. Applications are available online at www.berkshiretaconic.org/grantseekers or by calling 413.528.8039.
Berkshire Taconic Community Foundation builds stronger communities and improves the quality of life for all residents of Berkshire County, MA; Columbia County and northeast Dutchess County, NY; and northwest Litchfield County, CT. Thanks to its generous donors, in 2008 Berkshire Taconic distributed nearly $9 million in scholarships and grants for programs in the arts and education, health and human services, and environmental protection. Berkshire Taconic is a 501 (c)(3) charitable organization. |
