Shawano Area Matthew 25 was created with a mission to help local homeless people in Shawano and Menominee counties.
The organization, founded in 2012, faces an uphill battle, with an estimated 198 homeless families in Shawano, Menominee and northern Waupaca counties, according to the University of Wisconsin-Extension.
The effort recently received an important boost, however, when the Shawano Area Community Foundation awarded SAM25 $5,000 to assemble 200 emergency kits for the homeless.
“We are blessed that we are able to start our mission and we are thankful that the foundation has given us a great start,” said Muffy Culhane, president of SAM25.
The organization received nearly a quarter of the foundation’s grant money for 2015.
“They are a well-deserving organization in the community and are a start-up organization that wants to help,” SACF chairman Todd Raether said.
The emergency kits will include space blankets, rain ponchos, flashlights, hand warmers, lip balm, first aid kits and toiletry items.
SAM25 wants to provide 64 kits to area law enforcement officials, 37 for Shawano County and 27 for Menominee County; at least two kits to each school in both counties; and three kits each to three shelters in the area: Safe Haven, in Shawano, and Maehnowesekiyah and the Eagles Nest homeless shelter, in Menominee County.
“The whole goal is if somebody bumps into someone in the community that needs help, they can give them one,” said Ludene Balke, who wrote the SAM25 grant request.
The group plans to assemble the kits in January and begin distribution in February.
Homeless numbers can be deceiving, Balke said.
“We truly do not know how many are out there, but we do receive calls from people asking if they could do something for people in need,” she said.
SAM25 received nonprofit status in 2014. Culhane said the group’s mission is to ensure everyone in the community has a meal and a safe place to live, access to medical and dental care, and direction to community resources if in need.
SACF awarded more than $20,000 this year, helping eight organizations—about $15,000 less than a year ago when it supported 12 nonprofit organizations.
“It seems like the number of organizations that applied were down this year,” Raether said.
The following organizations also received SACF grants this year:
• Safe Haven, a domestic abuse and sexual assault support center, $3,646, for new furniture.
• Navarino Nature Center, $3,500, to build an accessible boardwalk to Glen’s Pond.
• Friends of the Shawano Library Inc., $2,400, for four laptops to provide educational enrichment opportunities for adults.
• Shawano County Barn Quilt Project, $2,000, to provide better lighting at the sign proclaiming the county as the Barn Quilt Capital of Wisconsin.
• nIc Foundation, $1,800, to provide support for character camps and anti-bullying programs for elementary school students.
• Wolf River School-to-Work Foundation, $1,400, to expose eighth-grade students to multiple careers at a job fair.
• Rural Health Initiative, $685, for a tablet to communicate information to Hispanic farmers.
Nonprofit organizations have until October to apply for grants for 2015.
story created on Tuesday 12/23/2014 at 12:51:28 pm by Jason Arndt
story modified on Wednesday 12/
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