2010 – $40,713 total grants awarded

Findlay Hope House for the Homeless – $25,000

Findlay Hope House Findlay Hope House was awarded a $25,000 grant to partially fund the Bridges Out of Poverty program and the coordinator’s salary and benefits. There are currently over 1,600 families in Hancock County that meet the Federal Poverty Guidelines to receive food stamps. That number represents a 33% increase in just one year, and is just one statistic that demonstrates the very real issue of poverty in Hancock County. Using Bridges Out of Poverty concepts, the Hancock Guiding Coalition, with Hope House in the lead role, will conduct a multifaceted, multi-year approach to poverty. These approaches will include holding Getting Ahead groups for adults living in poverty; organizing Poverty Simulations throughout the community; and educating the community about Bridges concepts. Over the next two years, the goals of the program are to graduate a minimum of 60 heads of household from Getting Ahead groups; implement 3-5 Poverty Simulations locally; and build a critical mass of understanding by providing training to a minimum of 500 people.

Findlay YMCA – $15,713

The Findlay YMCA received a grant of $15,713 to provide support for the 2010 summer employment of lifeguards for Riverside Park pool. A first for Findlay, city council approved a partnership in which the YMCA will oversee summer pool operations and the city will provide maintenance. The YMCA offered to take over pool operations when the city announced last year it would not be opening and operating the pool due to budget constraints. Hundreds of other YMCAs across the country are now involved in similar pool partnerships with municipalities. The YMCA will be responsible for pool staffing and programming, along with running the city’s summer youth day camp program. The YMCA operation plan includes decreased admission fees and season pass prices. The goal is to increase daily attendance by making it more affordable for families of all income levels. The Findlay Area Swim team (FAST) will continue to use the facilities for practice and swim meets. When the HTH grant was announced in April 2010, it was the largest of three local gifts that guaranteed this project would move forward.

2009 – $51,742 total grants awarded

Caughman Health Center – $11,142

Caughman Health Center received a grant of $11,142 to partially support a health educator social worker to coordinate education and programming for low income pregnant women. The goal of the program is to reduce the percentage of low-birth weight babies and increase knowledge of well-baby care in areas such as immunization and nutrition. Hancock County’s current rate of low-birth weight babies is 8.8 percent (2009), up from 6.6 percent only ten years ago. In 2006, 20.3 percent of Hancock County pregnant mothers indicated that they smoked. About 30 percent of Caughman’s current obstetric patients did not seek care until after their 30th week of pregnancy. Caughman Health Center is a subsidiary of Blanchard Valley Health System.

Hancock Christian Clearing House – $25,000

Hancock Christian Clearing House received a grant of $25,000 to support classes, supplies, training and wages for the “Partners in Progress” program. This program will address the need for HCCH clients to become more self-sufficient and accountable for their own situation. Each client who requests assistance from the agency will be screened to determine the conditions that may have caused their need to seek help. Trained volunteers will then seek out solutions for the client’s issue. Hancock Christian Clearing House provides financial emergency assistance to residents of Hancock County for needs such as food, rent, utilities and medical prescriptions. This program will be mandatory before clients can be considered for additional assistance.

Open Arms Domestic Violence and Rape Crisis Services – $15,600

Open Arms Domestic Violence and Rape Crisis Services received a grant of $15,600 to support a Program Assistant for Harmony House. Harmony House is a supervised visitation and exchange program designed to assist families who have experienced divorce, separation, violence or abuse. The goals of this program are to protect children from witnessing domestic disputes between parents during visitations and exchanges, to provide a safe and comfortable environment for children to visit with non-custodial parents or relatives, and to provide a neutral location and third party supervision of the transition from one parent to another for unsupervised visitation. Like many local agencies, Open Arms is facing reduced revenues and operating budget cuts. This grant will allow the agency to continue to provide these services at Harmony House.

2008 – $54,000 total grants awarded

Camp Fire of Northwest Ohio – $3,400

Camp Fire of Northwest Ohio received an HTH grant of $3,400 to support their Summer of Science (SOS) day camp program. This eight-week program targeted children from Findlay Commons apartments, a low income housing community. Children were able to creatively explore the scientific world through hands-on learning and field trips – opportunities they likely wouldn’t have had otherwise.

Habitat for Humanity – $26,858

Habitat for Humanity of Findlay/Hancock County received $26,858 from HTH to partially fund the construction of a new home for a single mother and her son. This particular home was also selected as the second local Women Build project, making this project especially fitting for HTH to fund. This build was especially memorable for many HTH members, who also volunteered their time to help on-site as part of the Women Build effort.

Hancock Center for Safe and Healthy Children – $23,742

Hancock County Center for Safe and Healthy Children, a local child advocacy center, received a grant of $23,742 to purchase video and audio recording equipment for two interview rooms. One of the key services the Center provides is recorded interviews. In addition to providing evidence for court, it minimizes the number of times a child has to tell his or her story. The new audio and video recording equipment allows the Center to capture everything that happens in the interview room. The new video equipment can pivot and zoom to view all areas of the room. Enhanced audio capabilities eliminate background noise and allow everyone in the room to be recorded, even the softest of voices.

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