Meals On Wheels will be able to keep rolling despite fewer and smaller donations.
The nonprofit organization that supplies elderly people one hot meal once a day will receive $6,692 today from Three Rivers Community Foundation.
"If not for this program, many in the Tri-Cities would likely go hungry," said Carrie Green, executive director of the Three Rivers Community Foundation.
Girl Scouts in the Tri-Cities will receive $8,500 to help inform Hispanic youth about how future income is linked to education.
The YMCA of the Greater Tri-Cities will receive the largest grant $25,000. That allows it to continue offering after-school and summer programs.
Those groups are just three Tri-City organizations receiving grants ranging from $1,000 to $25,000.
In all, the foundation board is divvying up $176,627 among 32 nonprofit organizations.
"I wish we could give more," Green said. "We received dollar requests for nearly twice that amount."
In all, the foundation received 56 requests, mainly from organizations offering free or reduced health care, art programs, and educational opportunities for youths and adults.
"It was heartbreaking, but we weren't able to fund any of the art programs this year," Green said. "So many organizations needed money for just people's basic needs that the board had to say no."
Three Rivers Community Foundation is a collection of separate endowed funds established by individuals, families and charitable organizations. It was formed in 1999 to be a clearinghouse for grants for nonprofit groups and causes in the Mid-Columbia. The money is pooled and invested, and income from the investments is distributed to nonprofit organizations once a year.
The grant award ceremony will be held at 10 a.m. today at the Richland Public Library.
Other larger grants this year went to Lourdes Medical Center for its summer day program for children with mental disabilities and Wilson House, a club house for adults with mental disabilities; to Elijah Family Homes and the PDQ Foundation. They will each receive $10,000.
The Academy of Children's Theatre will receive $8,000 to fund its anti-bullying program for area schools; Teen Challenge, $7,595; Washington State University Tri-Cities Pathways to Literacy, $7,905; and Jericho Road, $7,500.
Those receiving $5,000 are World Relief Tri-Cities, Academic Link Outreach, Allied Arts for Beads Behind Bars, the American Legion, Center for Sharing, Ignite Youth Mentoring and the Reading Foundation.
Grace Clinic will receive $3,500, while by White Bluffs Regional Center for Quilting & Fiber Arts will see $3,167.
The Chaplaincy, Safe Harbor and Children's Developmental Center will each receive $2,256; and the Adventist Food Bank, Edith Bishel Center for the Blind, Emmaus Counseling Center, Junior Achievement, Martha's Cupboard, Red Cross, Vista Youth Center and Women Helping Women, will each receive $2,000. The Tri-Cities Diaper Bank will get $1,000.
-- Loretto J. Hulse: 582-1513; lhulse@tricityherald.com
