Category: Grants Making a Difference

Make the Ride Happen: Cycling Without Age is expanding its network of trained volunteers to provide trishaw bicycle rides, allowing seniors to spend time outdoors interacting with their community, thanks to a $6,240 grant to Fox Cities Greenways, Inc. from the Bright Idea Fund within the Community Foundation. Two more Community Foundation funds gave grants […]

The Benitez family children headed back to school with more confidence for this year after experiencing a family literacy program conducted by the Hispanic Family Outreach Specialist at the Appleton Public Library. “The program is very valuable for the whole family. My kids look forward to coming to the library and I have seen so […]

Life-saving transformational gift to local hospitals provides much-needed ventilators By Megan Mulholland, Marketing Director, Community Foundation for the Fox Valley Region A donor with the Community Foundation has made a truly life-saving donation to area hospitals as they prepare to care for community members diagnosed with coronavirus. The anonymous donor gave more than $170,000 to […]

Thompson Center on Lourdes in Appleton is dedicated to the mental, physical and emotional well-being of adults over age 50 by offering more than 200 diverse programs and activities for this growing population in the Fox Valley. In 2023 Thompson Center received grants from 18 funds within the Community Foundation totaling $148,374 in support of […]

Larry Sawyer and Debra McDowall at the grand opening of the new Read Play Learn space at JJ’s Laundromat in Appleton. “Can we do this here?” That’s the question Colleen Holz had when she heard about laundromats around the country designing literacy spaces for kids. She reached out to Lance Nevins, the owner at JJ’s […]

The Fox Valley Literacy Council came looking for a Capacity Building grant from the Community Foundation to improve its communications and recruiting of new students. It worked. It worked so well that now they have a bit of a space crunch. A $50,000, two-year Capacity Building grant from unrestricted funds allowed the literacy tutoring group […]

When you think of those who make extraordinary donations to help those in need, names like Bill and Melinda Gates, Mark Zuckerberg and other famous philanthropists might come to mind. Ranking among those celebrities is a couple from De Pere, whose estate gift of $103 million to the Community Foundation for the Fox Valley Region is […]

January 13 is Make your Dream Come True Day. 8-year-old Gabriel of Greenville wished for a camper, and Make-A-Wish Wisconsin made his dream come true thanks to generous donors in the community. Community Foundation funds supporting Make-A-Wish Wisconsin are listed below this article. By Kris Teofilo, Senior Regional Director Make-A-Wish Wisconsin Together, through Make-A-Wish® Wisconsin, […]

It has officially been a year since three different communities came together under one umbrella as the Boys & Girls Clubs of the Bay & Lakes Region. This merger not only enhanced the programming and possibilities for local youth but also created efficiencies across the regional landscape. As the Boys & Girls Clubs in Door […]

“You need a bigger boat.” That was best-selling author Richard Louv’s advice to Fox Valley nature centers and environmental groups as the keynote speaker for Earth Day and the grand opening of the new nature center at Bubolz Nature Preserve Sunday. His reference was to the movie Jaws — which he acknowledged is factually flawed […]

“Since you’re reading this, my life is obviously over and I want to thank you for the joy you have brought to me here on earth.” With that greeting after his own passing, Lyle Reigel launched an exercise that taught dozens of friends and family about the hard work and satisfaction involved in giving. Lyle […]

Community members broke ground today on a new kitchen that will benefit the Ascend Initiative, a program of Housing Partnership of the Fox Cities and NAMI Fox Valley. Ascend serves young adults with mental health challenges in semi-independent housing in Neenah. Last fall, the J. J. Keller Foundation invited local nonprofits to participate in Kickstart, an […]