IMPACT 100 grant winners announced; 5 local nonprofits receive total of $267,500

October 15, 2021 | 12:10 am

Updated October 14, 2021 | 10:46 pm

IMPACT 100 Owensboro awarded a total $267,500 in grants to five local nonprofits at their 16th annual meeting Thursday night.

This year, there were two $100,000 grants and two $28,250 residual grants awarded by Impact 100. Impact 100 NextGen also awarded a single $11,000 grant.

One winner of a $100,000 grant was Girls Inc. for their Getting Grounded and Safe project. 

Girls Inc. CEO Tish Correa Osborne said the win was bittersweet knowing the competition was also deserving.

The Girls Inc. Getting Grounded and Safe project is designed to help create a safe, enriching physical environment for the girls who come to the facility and the staff that work there. Putting the money toward a fresher appearance will help retain current members and attract new families to the programming.

The second winner of a $100,000 grant was St. Benedict’s Homeless Shelter and their Living with Dignity project.

Jeff Berry, Program Director for St. Benedict’s Women and Family Services, said the grant will help fund their remodel for the bathrooms, laundry rooms and other places in the facility.

“Just having a working facility is going to impact these guys’ lives and not only that, to show that the community cares about them just as much as the staff,” Berry said.

One winner of a residual grant was Fresh Start for Women and their Transformation of the Keller House project. The grant will go toward renovating the Keller House to provide two bedrooms to house women that will go through the program.

“This means more to us than you can know for us to finally complete that house that we’ve owned for two years that we didn’t have money to remodel,” co-founder Carol Adkins said.

The second residual grant recipient was Cliff Hagan Boys and Girls Club for their Teen Center Expansion Project. The project will allow for a recording studio, e-sports gaming center and STEAM Lab.

With these resources, Club officials believe it will allow members to explore career opportunities and prepare for applying for college scholarships.

The recipient of the NextGen recipient for $11,000 was Kentucky Wesleyan College and the Build a Bed project.

KWC Director of Campus Ministries Shawn Tomes said the project typically happens yearly. During its first year they built 12, and they’ve continued building 24 and 35 the second and third years, respectively.

“What an amazing dream,” he said. “Impact 100 and NextGen has made at least 50 more beds possible, and instead of just building one time during the course of our academic year we’ll be able to build in the fall, and have a build in the spring.”

October 15, 2021 | 12:10 am

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