The Board of Trustees at Four County Community Foundation recently approved over $425,000 in college scholarships and grants to area students and local non-profit organizations in the communities we serve.
The Foundation accepts competitive requests four times per year (January 1, April 1, July, 1, and October 1). All requests are reviewed by committees comprised of the Board of Trustees, the Emeritus Board, volunteers, and YAC students. Our Scholarship application season begins in December and is open until March 1. Throughout March and April, scholarship committees (Board, emeritus, volunteers, students, and school personnel) review and score hundreds of applications before presenting their recommendations to the Board.
4CCF and 21st Century Grants
The 21st Century Education Funds awarded three grants to Imlay City Schools for innovative classroom programs. Borland and Weston Elementary Schools received funding for educational projects: Cardio Drumming, Math & Science Night In-a-Bag, and Virtual Science Fair. Sounds like these students had some great learning experiences!
The Four County Fund awarded over $22,600 to seven groups. Grants to the Imlay City Fire Department and Addison Township Fire Department will help cover the cost of AEDs and an airbag lift for their community’s First Responders. Grants to Oxford Township Parks & Recreation and to the Hispanic Service Center address the ongoing need for healthy food sources by providing for a community garden in Oxford, and a commercial refrigerator for the Service Center in Imlay City.
The Almont School District Music Department received funding to upgrade and improve the sound systems in all buildings. Building and installing nesting boxes for bluebirds will be a spring task for fourth-grade students at Krause Elementary School. Seven Ponds Nature Center received a grant to provide habitat for native pollinators (solitary bees and wasps) and also improve the exhibit space for their Eastern Box Turtles.
Healthy Senior – Healthy Youth Grants
Our Healthy Senior-Healthy Youth Committee provided a grant to construct a concrete patio and sunshade at the Conrad Center in Capac. Seniors using the facility will be able to gather for socializing, a pastime that was put on hold for the past year. The grant was made from the Lloyd Veitch Fund, an endowed fund set up to benefit senior citizens in the Capac area. The HSHY Fund awarded a grant to the American Diabetes Association to allow area children to attend virtual ADA Imagine Camp.
YAC Kellogg Grants
Our Youth Advisory Committee (YAC) recently awarded two grants. YAC grants are awarded from the WK Kellogg Fund, addressing challenges affecting youth as identified by their Student Needs Assessment. A Kellogg grant was awarded to Dryden Junior/Senior High School to provide a safe and fun-filled graduation night in 2021. The YAC also granted to the United Way of Lapeer County for the Imagination Library, providing books to families with pre-school children.
2021 Scholarship Awards
Finally, numerous committees painstakingly reviewed applications from over 1100 qualified applicants for 70 different local scholarships. After eight weeks of reading and scoring, meeting and discussing, the 212 recommended awards were presented to the Board of Trustees. The Board happily approved a whopping $353,950 in scholarship awards to 143 area high school seniors and college students.
Four County Community Foundation was founded in 1987 with $2.5 million from the sale of the Community Hospital. Since then, the Foundation has grown to more than 120 funds, over $22 million in assets, and has returned $10.2 million to local communities in the form of grants and scholarships. Planned gifts and donations of any size are always welcome, as the Foundation works to allocate funds for good, forever, for everyone! For more information on how you can support Four County Community Foundation, visit 4ccf.michigangiving.org or call 810-798-0909.