BCMS Receives Erie Community Foundation Grant
At a ceremony this morning at WQLN-TV's studios, the Erie Community Foundation (ECF) awarded more than $315,000 to 28 nonprofit organizations and two dozen schools as part of a competitive process that gives educational organizations in Erie the opportunity to apply for ECF grant money. BCMS was pleased to be among the groups chosen. The $12,500 awarded by ECF will go towards the purchase of a van. In total, ECF distributed over $1.3 million in the fourth quarter of 2009
Having a vehicle will enhance BCMS programming allowing BCMS to better serve its students, expand current programming, and foster partnerships with organizations that do not have transportation. It also allows BCMS to pick up and move materials (i.e. wood, sails, personal flotation devices, shop equipment, boat equipment, etc.), bring them to and from the Boat Shop and the docks, and take the boat building projects to remote locations in BCMS’ Boat Shop on the Road. The ability to transport students and wheelchairs to and from the BCMS campus at 40 Holland Street to the Wolverine Park Marina, where the adaptive sailing program is run, allows for more time on the water for the students enrolled in the Erie Adaptive Sailing Experience (EASE) program.
The grant from ECF fulfills a major need for BCMS and it is greatly appreciated. For the past twelve years BCMS has relied on the use of volunteers’ and staffs’ personal vehicles for each and every transportation need. Thank you Erie Community Foundation!
For a list of all grant recipients, visit the Erie Times-News.
To see video from the event, visit YourErie.com.
Or to assist BCMS in raising the remaining funds for the van, visit the Donate page.
BCMS AmeriCorps VISTA volunteer, Lou Shernisky stands with ECF President, Mike Batchelor, to accept the grant on behalf of BCMS. Lou played a large part in writing the grant application.