Grant funding received by two community food programs

Two Greene County programs have received funding from the 2017 Community Support Grant, which will allow each to continue feeding the people of the community.

The funds were presented as part of the Greene County Community Foundation's 2017 Community Support Grants.

SON Ministries received a total $6,800, which is primarily supported by the Milton and Mabel Meek Fund and the REMC Community Support Fund, which will be used to support its Summer Food Service Program.

According to Cindy Hale, co-treasurer of SON Ministries, the grant funding will allow the organization to install a dry storage building.

“It’s been a goal of ours for about three years now,” Hale said. “We’ve had a walk-in, but this will allow us to store food in a climate-controlled environment.”

The Summer Food Service Program has been in place for the past six years and currently provides free lunches to children under the age of 18 during the summer to Linton, Jasonville, Worthington, Lyons and Sullivan.

“We served about 5,000 meals this year to the kids,” Hale said. “We also had adult meals available for $3, and we distributed about 2,500 adult meals this year.”

Hale added the program aims to help families with budgeting throughout the summer.

The program was started after SON Ministries was contacted by a sponsor of the Owen County Summer Food Service Program. After the first year, SON Ministries became the official sponsor for Greene County.

“It’s a great thing to have, we’re glad they approached us,” Hale said.

Hale added SON Ministries plans to continue looking for ways to expand the program, including looking at plans to offer mobile sites.

“We would like to do remote sites with more locations to help more people,” Hale said. “We want to have more activities for the kids that come as well and get the community more involved.”

The Farmers’ Market of Linton and Bloomfield also received $1,000 in support of its Market Bucks program, which will be supported by the Tom Jones Legacy Fund.

According to Community Wellness Coordinator Mallory Rickbeil, Market Bucks act as an incentive for low income households to purchase fresh produce.

“We give up to $10 in matching funds per market day for SNAP and WIC benefits,” she said.

Market Bucks have been available for three years in Linton. However, this is the first year for the Bloomfield Market.

“This has been our best year yet,” Rickbeil said. “Last year, Linton went up to giving about $1,500 in Market Bucks, which brought in close to $3,000 for local vendors. This year, we’re at about the $2,000-$2,500 range.”

Rickbeil added those attending the Bloomfield Market are still getting used to a new time and day. Rickbeil has seen about $500 in Market Bucks distributed.

“It’s a very helpful program,” she said.

The summer markets will conclude meeting Sept. 29 in Linton and Sept. 26 in Bloomfield. There will also be two winter markets meeting at the Roy Clark Community Building in Linton later this year, both of which will offer Market Bucks to those attending.

The Greene County Foundation exists to be a vehicle for charitably minded individuals to leave a lasting legacy to the community. Through the establishment of endowments, donors can support financially the causes important to them. The Greene County Foundation holds over eight million in assets and has had a charitable impact in every school, library and community in Greene County. The Greene County Foundation annually awards over $300,000 in grants through fund payouts, competitive grants and student scholarships. Begun in 1997, the Greene County Foundation is one of 92 Community Foundations, one in each county in Indiana. The Foundations are private charitable organizations created to serve the public good. They receive their funding through contributions from generous donors. For more information, visit greenecountyfoundation.org or call 812-659-3142.

Editor’s note: This is the first of a four-part series for the programs receiving the Community Support Grant. Nine total organizations received funding totaling $54,965.