A new director for Old Town Playhouse, the delivery of more than 250,000 pounds of food to the area's hungry, and the development of a mile of Acme Township shoreline into a public park: You might not think all these are related, but they are.
Rotary Charities has released its annual report for 2009-2010, and all of these efforts have come about through grants and help from the public foundation.
The foundation's executive director, Marsha Smith, says the annual report includes $1.3 million in grants to nonprofit organizations in the last year, but the real importance is in the work Rotary Charities has done to create community, sense of place, and forward movement within the five-county region it serves.
"We looked at the history of our placemaking and it extends back to saving the Park Place Hotel, an anchor for our now thriving downtown," she says. "We then looked forward to our current way of helping transform the region, which includes building the capacities of our nonprofit organizations through NorthSky Nonprofit Network and providing leadership to the Grand Vision. While our role has changed over the years, our commitment to the region and our quality of life hasn't."
Rotary Charities was formed in the mid-70s after oil and natural gas reserves were found on property owned by the Traverse City Rotary Club. The interest income from the oil and gas royalties is what has made the foundation able to give out more than $39 million in community grants since that time, over the area of Grand Traverse, Leelanau, Benzie, Kalkaska and Antrim counties.
Writer: Sam EgglestonSource: Marsha Smith, Rotary Charities
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