On February 4, the Women's Fund of Smith County awarded five impact grants totaling $300,941 for 2020. They include Alzheimer's Alliance of Smith County - $72,664, East Texas Veteran's Community Council - $100,000, Meals on Wheels Ministry - $36,000, The First Tee of Greater Tyler - $31,519 and Tyler ISD Foundation - $60,758. This will bring the cumulative amount of grants awarded since 2009 to $1,976,145, impacting 29 agencies and countless lives. Thank you Women's Fund members!
REACH II is an evidence-based caregiver support education program designed to improve the lives of dementia clients’ caregivers by reducing their stress and burden, equipping them to be at their best for their loved one living with dementia. Grant funding will allow for the total number of support sessions for female primary caregivers to total 1,530 (255 caregivers x 6 sessions.)
The $100,000 grant will be used to renovate an existing building on the property, recently purchased by the ETVCC Board at 3212 West Front Street in Tyler, to house a comprehensive Women Veterans Service Center for mental, physical, and spiritual wellness. The ultimate goal of the project is to create a safe place for women veterans to benefit from programs that will increase self-esteem, develop confidence, encourage entrepreneurship, and empower women veterans to assume community leadership roles.
In order to decrease the wait list and better accommodate clients, the grant funds will allow MOWM to purchase two vehicles to add to its current fleet of older vehicles, many of which need replacing due to mechanical problems and age. Through this grant, MOWM will expand its services and thereby enable more senior women to remain living independently in their own homes, ensuring nutritious meals as well as important safety checks.
This grant will be used for the Learning Pavilion at Woldert Park, where the City of Tyler and TFTGT have a lease agreement and where golf lessons and other activities of the organization take place. The open-air, covered structure will be used for the educational portion of the TFTGT curriculum, further extending the reach of this unique youth development program that uses golf as a platform to touch essential life skills. The nine core values reinforced through TFTGT are: Honesty, Integrity, Sportsmanship, Respect, Confidence, Responsibility, Perseverance, Courtesy, and Judgment.
The grant will advance the visual arts programming at Caldwell Arts Academy to include an authentic ceramics lab, allowing students to explore a full ceramics curriculum including: wedging and coiling clay, wheel throwing, trimming, glazing, sculpting, slab construction, and glass-fusing. The grant will create an art-access-for-all opportunity – not only by developing the gifts of young artists and harnessing the benefits of arts integration, but also by providing a venue for community engagement through arts experiences.
