Endowment distributes $41K

YATES COUNTY--The Yates Community Endowment announced $41,653 in grants to 11 organizations serving Yates County residents.
The community group held their grant reception Wednesday, June 20 at Abandon Brewery in Hammondsport.
Since its founding in 2011, the Yates Community Endowment has awarded more than $210,000 to support projects and programs in Yates County. The 2017 grants were awarded by the endowment and several of its affiliate funds to the following nonprofit organizations:
• Arc of Yates, Inc.: Supports age-appropriate playground equipment at Keuka Lake School to be used in the toddler daycare program for young children with developmental delays ages 18 months to 3 years old. $3,038 (fully funded by the Robert F. Flickinger Fund).
• Arts Center of Yates County: The Teen Engagement in Art program will involve teens in painting descriptive murals on public picnic tables during the summer. $1,800.
• Big Brothers, Big Sisters of Greater Rochester: The Mentoring Youth for Educational Success project focuses on enrolling youth who are chronically truant, at high risk of educational failure, or whose families are affected by poverty or incarceration. $5,000 (includes $2,500 from the Spring Hill Fund).
• Family Counseling Services of the Finger Lakes: Provides transportation for Yates County youth to attend You Are Not Alone meetings and LGBTQ community events, as well as materials to increase awareness and provide education and training to Yates County schools, businesses, and community providers. $2,100.
• Finger Lakes Health, Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Hospital: Staff will run the four-week Get Up and Going exercise class within the hospital's Rehab Department for patients who have had an injury due to inactivity or improper body mechanics. Each participant will establish an appropriate exercise program and will receive a three-month membership to the Yates Community Center. $4,000 (includes $1,976 from the Willie Taaffe Memorial Fund).
• Finger Lakes Museum & Aquarium: Provides general support to the organization to advance its mission and goals and for programming this year. $5,000.
• Penn Yan Area Council of Churches Community Action Program, Inc.: Supports the efforts of the Yates Christmas Program to purchase and distribute toys, electronics, gift cards, clothing, books, blankets, and food to people in need. $1,500.
• ProAction of Steuben and Yates, Inc.: Continued funding for the HOPE Center, which assists individuals and families living in poverty by offering support in meeting basic needs as well as providing a full assessment to identify other individual/family needs. Also will be used to support the Personal Hygiene Initiative. $17,500 (includes $2,500 from the Robert F. Flickinger Fund, $5,000 from the McMullen Family Fund, and $10,000 from Rochester Area Community Foundation).
• Safe Harbors of the Finger Lakes, Inc.: To provide personal safety presentations and follow-up to Yates County youth in pre-school through sixth grade on how to keep themselves safe from sexual and domestic violence. $3,000.
• S2AY Rural Health Network, Inc.: For the purchase of age-appropriate books for the various Our Town Rocks and Reads programs. $2,500 (fully funded by the Spring Hill Fund).
• YMCA of Greater Rochester: Supports scholarships for 20 day-camp youth participants, ages 5 to 12, from Yates County to attend Camp Cory. $6,215 (includes $1,500 from the McMullen Family Fund and $2,715 from the Spring Hill Fund).