A History of Grants Awarded by the Women’s Giving Circle Fund

Total Community Impact of
Women’s Giving Circle Grants 2008-2023:

 

$492,321

    2023: $41,300

  • Altoona Boys & Girls Club: Social-Emotional Program Enhancements: $5800

    This grant will provide equipment for the Club’s Zen Den, where youth can calm down when they’re having trouble managing big emotions; books for the Club Library, which encourages reading skills; and incentive items for the Club Store, which reinforces good choices by letting youth save and ‘spend’ their Star Points to ‘purchase’ incentive items.

  • Chippewa Valley Museum: Children's Gallery Renovation at the Wisconsin Logging Museum $6500

    The “Tall Tales” children’s gallery in the Wisconsin Logging Museum Exhibit Center will be refurbished with support from this grant. Museum staff will work with educators and parents to update activities in order to align with best museum education practices. The result will be an active learning space that is safe, fun, inclusive, and accessible.

  • Chippewa Valley Youth Choirs (UWEC Foundation, Fiscal Sponsor): Music Library Freshen Up: $2500

    CVYC is a non-auditioned choir open to all children grades 2-8. Some of the titles in its current music library are dated, and others are no longer appropriate to be sung. This grant will “freshen up” the library with developmentally appropriate songs that allow children to sing with joy without increasing the cost for families to participate.

  • Eau Claire Area Hmong Mutual Assistance Association: Strengthening Intergenerational Bonds Through Transformational Cultural Retreat: $6500

    ECAHMAA will provide a three-day transformative outdoor retreat, bringing together Hmong youth and Hmong elders, to focus on strengthening intergenerational bonds through empowerment, leadership, and workshops. Both generations will engage in cultural activities that promote teamwork, storytelling, traditional arts, and reflection.

  • HSHS Sacred Heart Hospital Foundation: Eau Claire School-Based Mental Health Program: $6000

    This program provides free school-based counseling sessions to elementary, middle, and high school students in the Eau Claire area. It allows them to receive regular mental health counseling, reduces the amount of time they are away from the classroom, and eliminates the need for parents to leave work or miss other obligations.

  • Lutheran Social Services of Wisconsin and Upper Michigan: Gaining Ground: $7000

    The Gaining Ground program provides supportive services to women and children dealing with homelessness and chronic mental health concerns. Gaining Ground staff members will help clients obtain housing, arrange for childcare, assist with employment or GED applications, and connect them with mental health care resources in the community.

  • Professional Dental Hygiene Express: Bright Smiles: $7000

    Bright Smiles will provide preventive oral care to 3- and 4-year-olds at Eau Claire Head Starts by providing oral screenings, fluoride varnish, and oral education three times a year; services will be performed by a registered dental hygienist. Children found to have decay will be referred to dentists so that they can have a good start to their oral health.

  • 2022: $49,600

  • Chippewa Valley Free Clinic: Advancing Women’s Health Services, Year 2: $7500

    This program will build on current women’s health services, which assure access to acute and chronic disease health care, medications, prevention services, and hygiene necessities for impoverished women who don’t qualify for other programs. It will also increase breast and cervical cancer screening clinics for this underserved population.

  • Chippewa Valley LGBTQ+ Community Center: Youth Engagement Initiative: $6500

    Funding will support outreach to community partners that serve youth in order to share the best practices for creating services and resources for LGBTQ+ youth. It will also provide resources for their parents; educational programming for LGBTQ+ youth; and a Queer Prom that allows youth to enjoy this rite of passage in a safe and inclusive environment.

  • Family Resource Center: Reaching More Families with Triple P Positive Parenting Program: $7500

    FRC provides free parenting education and support to local families of young children, and it coordinates Eau Claire County’s evidence-based “Triple P” Positive Parenting Program. This grant will maximize the number of parents receiving this critical programming by using sophisticated internet marketing strategies to reach them.

  • Feed My People Food Bank: Childhood Hunger Program Expansion: $7500

    To ensure that all children are fed despite inflation pressures on low-income families, FMP will pilot Pop-Up distributions in school parking lots and will offer food at school events. During the summer, supplemental distributions will be added so families can receive food at least once a week. FMP will also include rural Eau Claire County in this programming.

  • L.E. Phillips Memorial Public Library: Eau Claire Laundromat Libraries “Read, Play, and Learn": $5600

    This program increases access to books and early literacy activities for underserved families who visit laundromats in Eau Claire. Each laundromat has a library containing diverse, high-interest books in English, Spanish, and Hmong for children ages 0-8. This grant will fund a “Read, Play, and Learn” space at Laundry Express and re-stock the other libraries.

  • Literacy Chippewa Valley: English Language Learners Class with Childcare: $7500

    LCV provides Adult Basic Education for those in need in three programs:  Corrections/Re-entry Education, 1-1 tutoring and English Language Learning (ELL) classes. These classes include childcare for ages 0-3 so that family obligations don’t create an obstacle for LCV students. This funding will support the childcare portion of LCV’s Family Literacy ELL program. 

  • Professional Dental Hygiene Express: Bright Smiles: $7500

    Bright Smiles will provide preventive oral care to 3 and 4 year olds at Eau Claire Head Starts by providing oral screenings, fluoride varnish, and oral education three times a year; services will be performed by a registered dental hygienist. Children found to have decay will be referred to dentists so that they can have a good start to their oral health.

  • 2021: $43,629

  • Boys and Girls Club Greater Chippewa Valley: Sensory Room and Trauma Coping Skills: $6000

    An updated sensory room including audio, tactile, and visual equipment will give youth the opportunity to safely process and manage their mental health crises on a daily basis. This program will increase social-emotional skills, social competency, and positive adult relationships to create positive behaviors and decision making skills. 

  • Chippewa Valley Free Clinic: Improving Women’s Health Care: $6000

    This program will enhance our current women’s health services, which assure access to acute and chronic disease health care, medications, prevention services, and hygiene necessities, by adding breast and cervical cancer screenings for impoverished women.

  • Eau Claire Chamber Orchestra: Family and Friends Present Ravel’s Mother Goose: $4200

    “Family and Friends present Ravel’s Mother Goose” serves over 800 individuals, particularly families with children, by providing a free classical music concert and ballet for the community so that anyone regardless of income can enjoy a professional event in a world class performing arts venue.

  • Feed My People Food Bank: School Pantry Program: $6000

    We are working with school staff to expand existing school pantries and develop new pantries at the elementary, middle and high school levels. We will source healthy items and work with school personnel to communicate the program distributing in a private, respectful way while connecting families to other resources.

  • Hope Gospel Mission: Women and Children Outdoor Recreational Space: $3095

    We have been working to develop our outdoor space for the Hope Renewal Center for Women and Children. This space plays a vital role in the mental and physical recovery for our residents and in the development of their children. We will add a patio dining set where moms can relax while their children play, chat and bond with each other.  

  • HSHS Sacred Heart Hospital Foundation: Compassionate Care Program: $6000

    The Compassionate Care Program for Female Cancer Patients gives women with cancer access to support services that improve their physical and emotional well-being. Women coping with physical side effects from cancer can access our complimentary boutique, participate in “Look Good Feel Better” workshops, do yoga, and receive massage therapy.  

  • L.E. Phillips Memorial Public Library: Eau Claire Laundromat Libraries: $5834

    This program will increase access to books and early literacy activities for underserved families who visit laundromats in Eau Claire. Each laundromat will receive a library—a small crate containing diverse, high-interest books in English, Spanish, and Hmong for children ages 0-8, as well as information about early literacy and community resources.

  • Lutheran Social Services of WI and Upper Michigan: In-Home Family Therapy Services: $6000

    Many of the moms with whom we work experience isolation, have minimal support, and often feel hopeless. To address these needs, we will create Service Provider Support Caddies for our providers to facilitate in-home services and to develop a support group for moms with children in out-of-home care. 

  • Stand in the Light Memory Choir: New Printer: $500

    This choir is composed mostly of women who have dementia and their caregivers. This grant will support its work by funding a new all in one printer that will allow for printing newsletters, song sheets, and memory materials as well as scanning and entering information into the electronic database and other functions.   

  • 2020: $45,379

  • Bolton Refuge House: Protect and Inspire: $3732

    Protect and Inspire offers children a safe, durable play space to use while accessing Bolton Refuge House support services. Due to traumatic experiences, many children exhibit impulse behavior that causes them to physically harm themselves. This grant will support the purchase of cork flooring that will minimize their potential for injuries.

  • Boys and Girls Clubs of the Greater Chippewa Valley: STEAM and Positive Behavior Programming: $4800

    This STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Math) programming will introduce youth, particularly girls and minorities, to the skills necessary to succeed as leaders in the science and technology fields. Activities such as coding clubs will spark new interests, and positive behavior incentives will encourage academic success.

  • Children’s Service Society of Wisconsin: Building Families: $6000

    Building Families is a voluntary home visiting program based on the premise that offering parent education activities and support will empower families identified as being at risk. Its aim is to prevent child abuse, strengthen families, and ensure children’s well-being through home visits beginning after birth and continuing until children enter school.

  • Chippewa Valley Museum: Music of the North Object Theater Production: $6000

    Music of the North is an Object Theater show designed for elementary social studies and music curricula. It will provide a cross-disciplinary approach to teaching local history and culture, allowing children to see themselves and their traditions as part of this community. It will build students’ understanding of the region’s diversity and music culture.

  • Family Resource Center: Triple “P” Positive Parenting Initiative: $6000

    The Triple “P” Positive Parenting Initiative is proven to decrease child abuse, improve parents’ mental health, and increase children’s academic success. By funding food, transportation, child care, and tip sheets for parents, this grant will reduce obstacles to participation and increase the program’s positive impact on families in need.

  • Girls on the Run of the Chippewa Valley: Camp GOTR Program Initiative: $3569

    This one week summer program will provide elementary school aged girls with opportunities for physical activity as well as social/emotional skill development during non-school times. Topics covered include emotions and friendships. Multiple camp sessions will be offered, and curricula will be implemented concurrently with physical activity.

  • HSHS Sacred Heart Hospital Foundation: Compassionate Care Program: $6000

    The Compassionate Care Program for Female Cancer Patients supports the physical and emotional well-being of women undergoing cancer treatment. A complimentary boutique offers items such as hats and skincare products, while monthly “Look Good Feel Better” workshops help patients adjust to appearance-related side effects of cancer.

  • Literacy Chippewa Valley: Eau Claire County Jail Women’s Adult Basic Education: $6000

    This grant will support educational opportunities for incarcerated women. A certified teacher will lead classes with curricula that include GED prep, financial literacy, and industry-recognized work certificates. Women will also participate in a book club that allows them to have social interaction while exercising their literacy skills.

  • Pablo Center at the Confluence: Robotics at the Pablo Center: $3278

    This two-week summer robotics camp will be offered to Eau Claire area high school students. The goal of participants will be to design, build, and program an 80-120 pound robot. In the process, students will gain workforce-ready skills and experiences in STEAM-related fields.

  • 2019: $47,210

  • Altoona School District: Care Closet: $6000

    Many Altoona students lack items such as socks, underwear, shampoo, or food, which often prevents them from focusing on school. To solve this problem, the district opened the Care Closet, where families and students can “shop” for needed items.

  • Chippewa Valley Health Clinic: Women Becoming A Healthier Me: $6000

    This program will enhance services for impoverished women and teenage girls. It will combine clinic care and 1:1 coaching through education and nutrition counseling to increase patient awareness of obesity health risks and increase physical activity.

  • Chippewa Valley Technical College Foundation: Women in Nontraditional Careers Scholarship Program: $6000

    These financial need-based scholarships will allow women interested in nontraditional careers to attend college with a lessened financial burden. This program will help to increase the number of females entering nontraditional careers and diversify our local workforce.

  • Eau Claire Area Hmong Mutual Assistance Association: Refugee Family Strengthening Project: $2710

    This support group is for Hmong individuals who are survivors of domestic violence. Every other week, the group meets to work on a sewing project together and to discuss a topic presented by the Hmong Family Strengthening Advocate for healing and empowerment.

  • Eau Claire Children's Theatre: Schoolhouse Rock Live: $4500

    This grant will help ECCT provide four free performances of the musical Schoolhouse Rock Live to increase access and remove cost as a barrier to the arts. This musical creates a fun way to reinforce a variety of educational lessons for students.

  • Feed My People Food Bank: Connecting to Thrive: $6000

    “Connecting to Thrive” provides nutritious food to low-income children and youth and their parents in familiar, convenient locations such as school parking lots. Feed My People anticipates that pantry visits by children and youth will exceed 1500.

  • Marshfield Clinic Health System Foundation: SANE Forensic Nurse Program: $6000

    This grant will help increase sexual assault follow up services to area women. Forensic nurses will receive SANE training and the equipment they need for the specialty exams. It will help purchase a specialty microscope to identify and document internal trauma in victims.

  • Red Letter Grant, Inc: Women's Business Start-Up Capital Grant Program: $4000

    Red Letter Grant’s mission is to support and empower female entrepreneurs. Expanding the Start-up Capital Program makes funding available to more women starting businesses and helps diminish the gap in business support and opportunity for women in our area.

  • Western Dairyland Economic Opportunity Council: Table for Two: $6000

    Table for Two is a Peer Mentorship Program for emerging female entrepreneurs of the Chippewa Valley. It will allow them to be paired with established and successful business women who are willing to share their insights with the next generation.

  • 2018: $37,250

  • Children's Museum of Eau Claire: Eat! Move! Live!: $6000

    This exhibit and program will inspire healthy living in children and adults. Low to moderate income families will have access to fruits and vegetables in the test kitchen pantry through a partnership with Feed My People Food Bank.

  • Chippewa Valley Free Clinic: Women's Health and Sharing Dignity Outreach: $6000

    The “Women’s Health and Hygiene Program” will be enhanced by the addition of basic dental care and a “Healthier You” program. The “Sharing Dignity” program will be extended to provide feminine hygiene products to young women in low income families at local high schools.

  • Eau Claire Area Hmong Mutual Assistance Association: Ntuj Tshiab Support Group: $3350

    This support group will give sexual assault survivors a safe space to converse with other survivors and to share their stories without blame and shame. Its goal is to help survivors overcome their trauma through healing activities and a positive support network.

  • Family Resource Center: Hand in Hand: $6000

    This pilot program will bridge a gap between the Health Department Nurse Family Partnership and the Family Resource Center by providing three years of seamless support to at-risk families. It will provide them with nursing support, Play N’ Learn playgroups, and home visits.

  • Junior Achievement of Wisconsin, Northwest District: Creating Your Next Future Entrepreneur at the Pablo Center: $3900

    This 3-6 week educational program for middle school aged students will be held after school at the Pablo Center for the Confluence. This program will encourage them to use entrepreneurial thinking and will incorporate local business volunteers from the culinary industry.

  • Trinity Equestrian Center: Finding Your Power: $6000

    This unique and therapeutic experience will serve 120 teens and adult women. It will help survivors of domestic abuse, sexual violence, trafficking, and/or bullying to create a personal plan for success using Equine Assisted Learning, discussions, and practice of new skills.

  • Western Dairyland Economic Opportunity Council: Women Helping Women: $6000

    This program will help women who have started new businesses move from the start-up stage to the growth stage and beyond through peer mentorship groups. These groups will meet monthly to support and encourage each other.

  • 2017: $41,466

  • APPLE Pregnancy Care Center: Earn While You Learn: $5000

    APPLE helps low income women who are facing a crisis pregnancy. In the “Earn While You Learn” program, clients attend educational sessions, after which they earn “APPLE Bucks” redeemable for diapers, formula, baby clothes, etc. This expansion will allow APPLE to provide larger items like car seats and cribs.

  • Boys and Girls Clubs of the Greater Chippewa Valley, Mary Markquart Center: Adaptive Learning: $6000

    The Boys & Girls Club – Mary Markquart Center has three priority outcome areas for all Club members: Academic Success, Healthy Lifestyles, and Good Character & Citizenship. The Adaptive Learning program increases the Club’s ability to engage with family and community partners to meet the needs of individual Club members.

  • Catholic Charities of the Diocese of La Crosse, Sojourner House: Bras for Homeless Women: $5000

    The Catholic Charities Sojourner House homeless shelter gets many in-kind donations but has difficulty providing bras, which are rarely donated, for female guests. Through this program, a case manager will work with guests in need to help them select and purchase bras, which will be shipped to the Sojourner House.

  • Chippewa Valley Museum: Classes and Activities for Preschoolers: $5000

    This project will provide opportunities for Museum guests ages 3-5 to learn through play. Funds will purchase and develop preschool-age appropriate activities for existing exhibits, 2018 preschool summer classes, and the 2018 Holiday Toy Train show. It will also provide 55 family admission vouchers to Head Start families.

  • Feed My People Food Bank: Bridging the Summer Gap: $6000

    The Weekend Kids’ Meal Program serves 1,560 Eau Claire children during the school year. To overcome the challenge of reaching these children during the summer, FMP is piloting new initiatives that include a weekly mobile food truck in the Longfellow Elementary parking lot and summer food shelves in 6 middle and high schools.

  • Girls on the Run of the Chippewa Valley: Girls on the Run of the Chippewa Valley Expansion: $4000

    This 10 week program combines a comprehensive, research-based curriculum and running activities to inspire self-respect and healthy lifestyles in preteen girls that culminates in a 5K run/walk. GOTR seeks to enhance its existing program by expanding by at least 10% in the 2018 season, thereby reaching about 50 more girls.

  • School District of Altoona: Altoona K-3 STEM Coding and Robotics Curriculum Based Program: $5966

    This innovative new early education program is designed to address gender bias in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) fields. It uses project based learning, interdisciplinary/multi-age curricula, maker spaces, coding, fabrication and dual credit high school academies to engage young students in these fields.

  • Trinity Lutheran Church: Soles for Special Souls: $4500

    Soles for Special Souls is a program that gives new back-to-school shoes and winter boots to low income children in the Chippewa Valley. Shoes are provided for children in grades 4k – high school; winter boots are provided for elementary school children. All recipients get vouchers that allow them to choose their own pair of footwear.

  • 2016: $36,000

  • Boys and Girls Club: Health and Nutrition: Culinary Classroom and Kitchen Program: $5000

    This grant will be used to create an operational culinary classroom containing 6 kitchen stations for hands on nutritional based learning experiences for Club members. The Club will be able to offer extended nutritional programming, which will include class space dedicated to cooking, nutrition, and kitchen safety.

  • Chippewa Valley Free Clinic: Sharing Dignity: $5000

    ‘Sharing Dignity’ assures access to health care, medications, hygiene necessities and undergarments for impoverished women. This program is an enhancement of last year’s WGC funded grant; it will offer extra services, including the provision of undergarments, to approximately 300 women.

  • Fierce Freedom: Hotel Industry Anti-Sex Trafficking Training: $5000

    This grant will help Fierce Freedom develop a training program for Chippewa Valley hotels on how to identify human trafficking and report suspected activity to area law enforcement. It will offer hotel staff tools they can use to fight trafficking on their properties, thereby helping to reduce the exploitation of women and children

  • Girls on the Run Chippewa Valley—Investment of Heart & Sole: Curriculum 2 and Program: $1000

    Heart & Sole is a curriculum developed for middle school girls. It consists of a 10-week after school program that offers girls an opportunity to build strong connections with one another and their coaches. It will help GOTR, which currently serves girls in grades 3-5, expand their outreach to older students.

  • Lutheran Social Services: Trauma Services for Women and Children: $5000

    Women and children are referred to LSS’s Family Interactions Program (FIP) and the Family Preservation Program (FPP) as a means of providing safety and education for families that are struggling and need assistance. Both FIP and FPP focus services on women and children dealing with complex trauma.

  • Safe Sleep Task Force: Safe Sleep: $5000

    This enhancement of a previously funded program will provide 50 low-income families with Pack ‘n Plays and other materials to help them create a safe sleep environment for their infants. It will add more direct interactions between Safe Sleep educators and the families, including initial and follow-up visits.

  • Trinity Equestrian Center: Finding Hope Through Horses: $5000

    This program provides an 8-week Equine Assisted Learning group therapy experience to 6 women who are struggling with addiction and mental health issues. It addresses issues such as self-esteem and image, forgiveness, healthy coping skills, identifying recurring triggers, goal setting, and the Purpose Matrix.

  • Western Dairyland Economic Opportunity Council: Women’s Business Center: $5000

    The Women’s Business Center provides access to entrepreneurial support and business education to women who are interested in starting, growing, or improving a small business. Clients receive individualized assistance in writing business plans, creating marketing plans, and developing financial projections.

  • 2015: $29,423

  • Chippewa Valley Free Clinic--Women's Health & Hygiene--$5000

    ‘Women’s Health and Hygiene’ works to ensure access to health care, medications, and hygiene necessities for impoverished women. Approximately 495 women will receive health services, and 200 to 300 will receive feminine hygiene products during the program’s first year.

  • Family Resource Center--Parent Cafe--$3180

    The Parent Café is a program for parents and children that includes a shared meal, social connections, resource sharing, information on a topic of interest to the group, and an opportunity for positive interactions between parents and children. It will offer a comfortable place for families to come together for networking and information.

  • Feed My People--Dairy for Kids--$5000

    The Weekend Kids’ Meal program expects to serve over 1,600 students in the Eau Claire area during the 2016 school year. Each student receives a meal bag every Friday. Dairy for Kids will allow vouchers for a free half gallon of milk and shelf-stable cheese squares to be included in the meal bags.

  • Literacy Volunteers Chippewa Valley--Healthy Foods, Healthy Families--$5000

    Healthy Foods, Healthy Families will support the health of low literacy families by teaching the importance of healthy eating for the entire family. Two classes will be offered: “Family Cooking and Learning” will teach families how to plan and prepare healthy meals, and “My Plate” will help parents develop healthy eating habits in their children.

  • Lutheran Social Services--ARJ Parenting Program--$5000

    The Addiction and Restorative Justice (ARJ) Programs of Lutheran Social Services will offer parenting classes to their clients. Supporting women in their efforts to properly nurture their children will aid in breaking the intergenerational cycle of addiction and therefore positively impact their children and other family members.

  • Trinity Equestrian Center--Wounded Women's Equine Therapy Program--$5000

    The Wounded Women Program serves clients who have experienced emotional and physical traumas. It is an efficacy based model using horses in addition to a trained therapist and equine specialist. In this program, horses and clients develop relationships while the clients learn strategies to overcome their self-destructive responses.

  • Fostering Success Initiative at UW-Stout--Summer Overnight Camp--$1243

    Fostering Success at UW-Stout offers overnight and day camps geared towards college readiness for foster and homeless youth. Since it has already proven extremely successful, this grant will build on its previous accomplishments by helping seven foster and homeless youth from Eau Claire County attend the camp.

  • 2014: $26,000

  • Eau Claire Area Hmong Mutual Assistance Association--Viv Ncaus Sewing Circle--$2000

    The Viv Ncaus Sewing Circle is for Hmong women who are survivors of domestic abuse. Members will be able to give and receive emotional and practical support while learning about other resources available to them, as they preserve Hmong culture by creating traditional clothing and crafts.

  • Eau Claire City-County Health Department Safe Sleep Task Force--Safe Sleep Program--$5000

    The Safe Sleep Task Force will provide a tool-kit to hospitals, community agencies, and families to provide a consistent, accurate message about the importance of safe sleep for infants. The Safe Sleep Program will also provide 50 families with a free Pack ‘n Play and sleep sack to help provide the safest sleep environment.

  • Eau Claire YMCA--Healthy Eating and Physical Activity Standards for Child Development Center--$4000

    The YMCA is adopting a set of Healthy Eating and Physical Activity (HEPA) standards for its Child Development Center. These standards will improve the nutritional value of the CDC’s meals and snacks, guide its staff in modeling healthy living behaviors, add nutrition education to its curriculum, create a social environment that encourages children to enjoy healthy eating and physical activity, and provide children with at least 60 minutes of physical activity a day.

  • Flying Eagles Ski Jump Club--Fly with the Eagles--$5000

    Fly with the Eagles will help combat youth obesity by encouraging children to participate in the Flying Eagles Ski Jump Club regardless of their ability or financial need. The program will provide educational presentations and a Learn to Ski opportunity for all interested youth. In addition, it will provide scholarships that will offset equipment and coaching costs for children in financial need.

  • Friends of the L.E. Phillips Memorial Public Library--Books for Babies--$5000

    Books for Babies is a literacy program to acquaint parents of newborns with the important role that books play in the development of children. While still in the hospital, parents are presented with a kit that includes information on the importance of reading to babies, a board book, and other information about available library programs for children.

  • Girl Scouts of the Northwestern Great Lakes--STEM for Girls--$5000

    STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) for Girls is being developed to provide a constant, ongoing, girl-only program to encourage girls in Eau Claire County to pursue STEM academically and as a career. Additionally, female STEM professionals from the Eau Claire area will mentor the girls and talk about career options that they may not be aware of.

  • 2013: $18,466

  • Boys and Girls Club – Club Tech Digital Art Suite - $5,000

    The purpose of Club Tech Digital Arts Suite is to instill in youth a true enjoyment of digital arts that will stay with them throughout their lives and broaden their opportunities for future career options. To expand the Club Tech technology programming, the Boys & Girls Club will implement the Digital Arts Suite, which includes lessons in web and graphic design, digital photography, and music and movie making.

  • Feed My People, Inc – Fruit for Children - $5,000

    Since 2006, Feed My People has been providing food to an ever-increasing number of children in the Eau Claire Area School District. Fresh fruit has become an important component of this program. Fresh fruit, however, is costly, accounting for almost a third of the cost of the food. Feed My People, therefore, has made the decision to seek sponsorships from area businesses in the Eau Claire community to sponsor the purchase of fruit as well as other food items. This grant is to help fund the cost of the fruit while these sponsorships are being obtained.

  • Joshua’s Camp Corporation – Spring Program 2014 - $4,466

    Joshua’s Camp provides a four day retreat style program for families that have a child that is being treated for cancer or has been out of treatment for less than 3 years. Money from this grant will be used to help single mothers and their children attend the camp.

  • Trinity Lutheran Church – Boots for Special Souls - $4,000

    Boots for Special Souls is an expansion of an existing program, Soles for Special Souls, run by Trinity Lutheran Church’s food pantry, in which disadvantaged children receive a voucher for winter boots. The children submit the vouchers as payment for pairs of winter boots of their choice at Kmart in Eau Claire. Trinity then pays the purchase price, less a generous discount provided by Kmart, to cover the cost of the winter boots.

  • 2012: $19,568

  • Eau Claire Children’s Theatre – Rising Star Productions - $5,000

    The grant will fund ECCT’s “Rising Star Productions,” bringing the two-component program to Longfellow and Lakeshore Elementary Schools. The after-school enrichment component allows 50 students to be part of a full-scale theatre performance produced in one week. The School Day Residency component places an ECCT staff member at the school for one week and includes 10 hour-long theatre workshops that involve students in theatre games and creative drama activities in the classroom.

  • Eau Claire County AIM Court – Financial Literacy Training and Assistance, Forging Relationships with Area Landlords - $5,000

    The 2012 AIM Court grant will be used for financial literacy training, forging relationships with supportive area landlords, and incremental financial stipends for AIM participants who successfully complete budgeting counseling. This program aids in the success of current AIM participants by teaching financial responsibility and linking participants with safe, suitable, and affordable environments for themselves and their families.

  • Literacy Volunteers-Chippewa Valley – First Teachers Family Literacy Program - $5,000

    The “Worthy Work for Mothers” program will teach English instruction, computer skills, intermediate-level employment skills, and career development skills to women of diverse low-income families so that they may obtain employment to support themselves and their families. This program will equip women with the skills and certification to pursue careers in food handling, health care, light manufacturing, and early childhood day care.

  • Lutheran Social Services – LSS Touchstone Center - $4,568

    The grant will assist women in the Chippewa Valley to access licensed AODA (Alcohol and Other Drug Abuse) treatment in a gender-specific, trauma-informed manner at Lutheran Social Services Touchstones Center. The program consists of 36 sessions of primary outpatient treatment, followed by 16 weeks of continuing care. Program goals include increasing sobriety, securing safe housing, becoming employed, and decreasing correctional system involvement, as well as improvement in overall well-being and family relationships.

  • 2011: $20,000

  • Boys and Girls Club of the Greater Chippewa Valley – MusicMakers program - $5,000

    The grant will help fund the “MusicMakers” program to be offered to the members of the Club. It is a new program that will offer private and small group music lessons to participants, enhancing their skills in expressing themselves in musical, creative ways. In addition to the lessons, Club members will have opportunities for field trips for experiences in the performing arts.

  • Eau Claire County AIM Court – AIM Court Program Enhancements - $5,000

    AIM (Alternatives to Incarcerating Mothers) Court is an evidence-based program of support, education, direction, and encouragement to mothers who have committed a felony or misdemeanor, and offers ways of serving their sentences other than incarceration. The 2011 grant will be used for enhancements to this program: parenting education, educational materials that will help mothers communicate with their children in more developmentally appropriate ways, a family program for the adult supports in the lives of the participant mothers, and access to child-friendly performances and activities in the community.

  • Feed My People Food Bank – Weekend Kids’ Meals - $5,000

    The grant will expand the existing Kids’ Weekend Meal Program to include children attending Eau Claire’s Lakeshore Elementary School. Bags of food sufficient for two breakfasts and two lunches are provided on Fridays to the children who are at risk of going hungry when school meals are not available on weekends. Approximately 150 students will participate.

  • Literacy Volunteers-Chippewa Valley – First Teachers Family Literacy Program - $5,000

    The “First Teachers” program, funded by this grant, will help mothers enrolled in the Eau Claire Family Literacy program help their children succeed in a culture that is vastly different from the culture in which they themselves were raised. Participants in “First Teachers” will actively engage with their child’s early childhood teacher and participate directly in the classroom. With the skills learned, the mothers will be able to reinforce their child’s learning at home, continually reinforcing their skills and abilities.

  • 2010: $14,500

  • Eau Claire County AIM Court – AIM Court $2,500

    AIM Court is a program that provides alternatives to offenders who are mothers. Such individuals participating in this program can remain in the community to serve their sentences, thereby avoiding foster care placement for their children and other disruptions of family life. The grant will fund the purchase of materials that will be used in parenting education and incentives for pro-social behaviors. The AIM Court program has a capacity to serve 20 mothers and their children.

  • Literacy Volunteers Chippewa Valley – Empowering Women through Savings and Leadership - $4,000

    This grant will help LV-CV expand the program which was funded in 2009, Empowering Women Through Savings, by adding a leadership training component. The participants will learn and practice organizational skills, such as leading a meeting, creating by-laws for a group, and taking part in a discussion. Money from the grant will purchase materials and help with translating written and oral materials.

  • The Community Table – A Family Table - $4,000

    In this program, “From the Garden, to the Community Table, to the Family Table,” children will learn about gardening, preserving produce, and using produce for meals. They will have opportunities to prepare meals for their families using the produce they have raised. The goal of the program is to reach out to families who may not be using the Community Table by helping them become familiar with the facility and learn with their children.

  • Trinity Lutheran Church – Soles for Special Souls - $4,000

    In collaboration with K-Mart, The Food Pantry program will use this grant to purchase vouchers for families in need to help them purchase new shoes for their children. Parents can use the vouchers at K-Mart and allow their children to obtain new shoes.

  • 2009: $12,530

  • Family Resource Center for Eau Claire County – Teen Parent Education Program - $3,140

    The Teen Parent Education Program will provide parent education, support, and assistance to teen mothers and their children in the local high schools. The participants will be better equipped for the challenge of raising a child and be more likely to raise healthy children in the future. At least 30 teen mothers will be served by this program.

  • Feed My People Food Bank – The Weekend Kids’ Meals Program - $3,500

    The Weekend Kids’ Meals program will expand a program started in 2006, which provides nutritious food for two breakfasts and two lunches that school age children can take home over the weekend when school-based meals are not available. The expanded program will provide the same service for all students enrolled the Eau Claire Area School District’s Head Start sites. Research has shown that food security for children enhances their health, attendance in school, and academic success.

  • Literacy Volunteers-Chippewa Valley – Empowering Women through Savings - $3,500

    Empowering Women through Savings will use grant money to provide women who are living in poverty with knowledge and skills about financial literacy and basic financial functions, such as budgeting, borrowing, comparison shopping, and saving. Participants will work one-on-one with a financial planner.

  • The Community Table – A Family Table - $2,120

    A Family Table: The goal of this program is to make the Community Table a family friendly space where participants can connect with existing services and local resources. Additional components of the program include family nutrition classes in addition to healthy meals, and a Children’s Corner where children can play and learn in a safe, supervised place at the site during mealtimes.

  • 2008: $10,000

  • Lutheran Social Services Affinity House – Affinity House - $3,000

    This recovery enhancement program will help woman recovering from addiction issues develop new interests, skills and hobbies that they can incorporate into their lives upon completion of the program. It is estimated that 60 women will be served.

  • The Community Table – Summer Meals for Low Income Children - $2,000

    The Community Table will deliver healthy lunch bags and afternoon snacks to an estimated 50 children each day during the summer.

  • Wisconsin Family Ties – Family Support & Advocacy - $3,000

    This program will serve parents and their children who have mental health needs. It will establish one family advocate in EC County to assist families through parent to parent peer support. The goal is to help 25 parents become advocates for their children.

  • Western Dairyland – Youth Entrepreneurship - $2,000

    This program will provide opportunities for low income families to be self-sufficient. It will help youth learn about starting a business in a 5 day program. 20-40 economically and socially at risk young people will be served.