Print

Grants Target Hunger, Homelessness

Keith Griffin

December 15, 2008

The Hartford Foundation for Public Giving has awarded nearly $1 million in grants to help Greater Hartford nonprofit agencies combat hunger and homelessness.

“These are very difficult times — for our residents and the nonprofits that serve them,” said Linda J. Kelly, president of the Hartford Foundation in a press release.

“As the community foundation for the Greater Hartford region, we are in a position to respond to those increased needs,” she said.

The grants more than double the amount made last winter to help nonprofits through the winter months when demand for the food and shelter they provide are at a peak.

The grants include more than $285,000 to agencies that provide basics such as food, shelter, clothing or fuel.

Initially, $135,500 will be awarded to 30 programs at 29 agencies in Bolton, Bloomfield, Enfield, Hartford, Manchester, Vernon, West Hartford, and Windsor.

This money mainly comes from the Beatrice Fox Auerbach Foundation Fund, established at the Hartford Foundation in 2000 by heirs of the longtime Hartford department store owner.

Approximately $150,000 in grants for similar purposes will be awarded from the foundation’s unrestricted fund.

Nearly $700,000 to four agencies in Hartford to address the needs of homeless individuals and their families and those at risk of becoming homeless.

The grants are: $221,000 over three years to the Chrysalis Center for support services to homeless veterans; $220,000 to The Salvation Army of Greater Hartford to continue its Marshall House homeless prevention program; $180,000 to My Sisters’ Place to operate its rent subsidy program; and $76,000 to the Immaculate Conception Shelter and Housing Corp. for its expanded emergency shelter.

The Jewish Community Foundation has named Leah Cohen Chatinover, a senior attorney in Reid and Riege’s nonprofit organizations practice group, the chair of its legal and tax panel, a volunteer committee of professional advisors.

The panel advises the foundation about individual charitable and tax planning matters and nonprofit operations. They also serve as the Jewish Community Foundation’s ambassadors in the community.

The Newington office of Prudential Connecticut Realty held its annual raffle drawing, which raised more than $9,000 for The Sunshine Kids Foundation. Winning tickets were drawn by Jeff Wright, mayor of Newington.