Staff Reports
A new partnership will provide grant funds to assist Bartholomew County women in crisis who demonstrate a financial need.
The Lincoln-Central Neighborhood Family Center in Columbus and the Heritage Fund — The Community Foundation of Bartholomew County, will provide crisis grant funds of up to $500 to assist local women who have a financial need, said Kelly Geckler, marketing coordinator for The Heritage Fund.
The Lincoln-Central Neighborhood Family Center will identify women who are in need and work with the Heritage Fund to provide small impact loans with reasonable payment terms, Geckler said.
Some of the areas where the center and the Heritage Fund may be able to help are maintenance funds for a vehicle that allows a woman to maintain her employment, said Diane Doup, community outreach coordinator at Lincoln-Central Neighborhood Family Center.
Or it could involve helping a woman with unexpected bills that could help her stay in her home, Doup said.
The focus will be on providing assistance with unexpected expenses where there are no other resources available to help, Doup said.
The program is not designed to replace any programming in place, but instead to supplement where needs aren’t able to be met, and in that way, having an impact for women in crisis, Doup said.
“We want to prevent women and families on a path to self-sufficiency from having that derailed by a crisis,” Doup said.
So far, Doup said the center has been “getting our feet wet” with a few grant requests and is excited to see how the program will unfold once the public knows this help is available.
For more information or to make a referral, contact Doup at [email protected].
The Women’s Giving Circle was created over a decade ago to provide an opportunity for women in Bartholomew County to join a philanthropic group of women and provide grants to community organizations involved in helping the women and children.
The organization works on a “women’s report card” to identify the areas of greatest need for women, to help identify issues and the greatest needs for strategic fundraising and giving opportunities, according to the group’s website.
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For more information on the Women’s Giving Circle, visit heritagefundbc.org/giving-circle/.
For more on the Lincoln-Central Neighborhood Family Center, visit lcnfc.org.
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