Community Corner
Shorewood Foundation Grants Over $45,000 to Village, School Projects
SHS Drama, Friends of Atwater Beach, and Shorewood Reads were awarded foundation funds, leaving the foundation's budget close to dry.
With $53,397 remaining in its budget for grants, the Shorewood Foundation granted about $45,000 Tuesday to proposals by Drama, Friends of Atwater Beach, and Shorewood Reads.
However, the foundation, a non-profit run by volunteers and funded solely by individual donations, denied funding to a high school learning lab.
The roughly $25,000 to SHS Drama will fund 24 lavaliere microphones and related equipment for high school productions, recreation department classes and the Shorewood Players.
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“We have had this type of microphone for years but after 20 years we are in dire need of more,” SHS Drama Director Barbara Gensler wrote in the application.
The foundation also granted $20,000 to the Friends of Atwater Beach, out of a $40,000 request for the construction of a community-built playground and boardwalk.
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The FAB project is projected to cost a total of about $225,000. The group has already received a $90,000 Wisconsin Coastal Management grant, and fundraised an additional $10,000. If members are able to raise the remaining funds, the group plans to start construction in the spring or summer of 2012.
The roughly $1,000 awarded to the program will combine with an earlier grant of about $1,000 to provide honorary gifts to the teachers involved, and buy books and other materials.
The only grant application that received no funding was for a learning lab at the high school. Foundation Board Member Jane Hawes said the project might not be as sustainable or beneficial to the entire community as others.
“Who knows if the computer you get is going to be the one you want a year from now,” Hawes said. “We thought that didn’t fit into our mission.
These grants will leave the committee with a financial cushion of about $7,000 until they receive more donations.
Though Board Member Stephanie Rapkin expressed concern that they might need more money for unforeseen expenses or fundraisers, other members said it would be enough.
“I don’t want to sit on the money, because there aren’t any other grant requests out there at this point,” Board Member Priscilla Pardini said.
Board members hope to replenish their budget after their fundraising dinner at Hubbard Park November 19.
