PORT ANGELES — First Fed Foundation has awarded 22 organizations a total of $400,000 in funding in its fall grant cycle.
“The nonprofits receiving grants are bringing housing, help, and hope to community members in Clallam, Jefferson, Kitsap and Whatcom counties, and the city of Bellevue,” said Norm Tonina, president of First Fed Foundation’s board of directors.
“In this grant cycle, we focused our giving on several of the greatest needs in our communities, including averting homelessness, increasing the availability of and access to affordable housing, addressing food insecurity and the lack of childcare, and supporting opportunities to stimulate economic development,” Tonina continued in a press release.
Said Jan Simon, the foundation’s executive director: “The Foundation is committed to supporting nonprofit, tribal, and government agencies that provide critical, timely assistance, while also building a brighter future. We are proud and privileged to partner with them in sustaining our communities.”
“This fall’s contributions bring the Foundation’s giving in 2022 to $800,000, and grantmaking since 2015 to $6,101,500,” she continued.
Recipients of the fall grant awards from First Fed Foundation, which was formerly named First Federal Community Foundation, are:
Clallam County
• Clallam County Fire Protection District No. 4: $25,000 Community Development grant to purchase a gurney with a battery-operated lift capability, decreasing the risk of injury to volunteers and patients.
• Feiro Marine Life Center: $5,000 Community Support grant to support a hands-on education program for about 400 fourth-grade students from Crescent, Port Angeles and Sequim school districts.
• Field Arts & Event Hall: $50,000 Economic Development grant to underwrite the costs to achieve LEED Certification.
• Financial Beginnings Washington: $5,000 Community Support grant to support free financial literacy programs for 1,000 youth and young adults in Clallam, Kitsap and Whatcom counties.
• Lutheran Community Services Northwest: $10,000 Community Support grant to provide basic needs assistance for 10-15 families or 30-50 individuals in Clallam County who are low-income and homeless or at risk of becoming homeless.
Jefferson County
• Kitsap Sexual Assault Center: $5,000 Community Support grant to provide emergency assistance for victims of sexual assault, domestic violence and other crimes in Jefferson and Kitsap counties.
• Trinity United Methodist Church: $15,000 Community Support grant to replace the roof in the areas used by two preschool programs, making it safe, warm and dry, and helping address the critical lack of quality childcare in Jefferson County.
Both Clallam-Jefferson
• Clallam-Jefferson Pro Bono Lawyers: $25,000 Homelessness & Affordable Housing grant to provide legal advice and representation to low-income Clallam and Jefferson county renters who are at risk of losing their housing.
• New Image: $5,000 Community Support grant to purchase new and gently used plus-sized clothing and undergarments for donation to low-income and homeless women in Clallam, Jefferson and Kitsap counties.
Others
• Assistance League of Bellingham: $5,000 Community Support grant to provide low-income and homeless students from seven Whatcom County school districts and The Lummi Nation with new shoes and clothing.
• Eastside Legal Assistance Program: $25,000 Homelessness & Affordable Housing grant to provide legal advice and representation to Bellevue renters who are at risk of losing their housing.
• Financial Beginnings Washington: $5,000 Community Support grant to support free financial literacy programs for 1,000 youth and young adults in Clallam, Kitsap and Whatcom counties.
• Foster Hearts: $5,000 Community Support grant to underwrite costs for sports equipment, classes, lessons, school field trips, GED and graduation expenses and more for Whatcom County foster children.
• Kitsap Regional Library Foundation: $5,000 Community Support grant to fund backpacks, books and transportation so more than 2,500 third-graders from 38 Kitsap County schools can connect with and visit their local library branch.
• Kitsap Sexual Assault Center: $5,000 Community Support grant to provide emergency assistance for victims of sexual assault, domestic violence and other crimes in Jefferson and Kitsap counties.
• Kulshan Community Land Trust: $30,000 Homelessness & Affordable Housing grant to provide the support needed for 15 low- to moderate-income households in Whatcom County to purchase their own permanently affordable home.
• Mercy Housing Northwest: $100,000 Homelessness & Affordable Housing grant to fund construction of Millworks Family Housing & Early Learning Center, 83 units of permanently affordable family housing, and a six-classroom early learning center on Bellingham’s downtown waterfront.
• New Day Ministry: $5,000 Community Support grant to provide individualized food and meals at no cost to elderly Kitsap County community members experiencing food insecurity.
• New Image: $5,000 Community Support grant to purchase new and gently used plus-sized clothing and undergarments for donation to low-income and homeless women in Clallam, Jefferson and Kitsap counties.
• RE Sources: $10,000 Community Support grant aimed at improving the lives of underserved and impoverished youth and adults in Whatcom County by providing individualized workforce and job seeker training, mentoring and skills training to secure living-wage jobs.
• Roxy Theater: $25,000 Economic Development grant to acquire Kitsap County’s Historic Roxy Theater, helping sustain its cultural, entertainment and economic development role in the redevelopment of downtown Bremerton.
• Scarlet Road: $25,000 Homelessness & Affordable Housing grant to house victims of sex trafficking and their dependents in Kitsap County, and provide case management services that foster long-term stability.
• South Kitsap Helpline: $5,000 Community Support grant to rent two temporary storage units so Helpline can continue distributing nearly 1 million pounds of food annually to Port Orchard-area residents.
• Whatcom Center for Early Learning: $7,500 Community Support grant to offer children with disabilities and developmental delays opportunities for socialization, developmental support and peer learning, while providing their caregivers with information and support.
• Whatcom Family YMCA: $7,500 Community Support grant to support the free delivery of quality food to more than 60 households weekly, mitigating the food insecurity crisis.
First Fed Foundation is a private charitable corporation that began making grants in 2015, thanks to a gift valued at nearly $12 million from the parent company of First Fed, when the bank was converted to a publicly traded company.
Committed to creating broad impact that benefits low-to-moderate income, disadvantaged and/or marginalized persons or families in the communities in which First Fed, the foundation’s sole donor, operates full-service branches, the foundation has contributed, since 2015, more than $6 million.
