ADEC

Mission: Advocating for community members with intellectual and developmental disabilities and providing services that enable them to live fulfilling lives. Through employment services, day programs, residential outreach, and therapies, ADEC supports the integration of those with disabilities into schools, the workforce, and shared spaces in Elkhart and St. Joseph Counties.

Grant Amount: $25,000

Project: This grant aids ADEC in funding and improving its summer camp program, one of the only full-summer camps in Michiana serving children and young adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities, ages 6-22. ARP funds will contribute to staffing costs, training, supplies, meals, and field trips.

Bashor Children’s Home

Mission: Providing care for homeless teens in Elkhart County. Bashor Children’s Home provides shelter to homeless and at-risk children, collaborating with other agencies across the county to create better outcomes for youth.

“Our goal is to ensure the needs of at-risk kids are met so they can have the greatest chance for success in life,” Steve Riikonen, vice president of outreach for Bashor, said.

Grant Amount: $25,000

Project: Grant funding provides ongoing support for “Safe Place Partners,” the community-based program for at-risk young people throughout the county. Specifically, Bashor plans to expand education and outreach around “Safe Place” to make more children aware of the program and how participating sites keep them safe.

Boys & Girls Clubs of Elkhart County

Mission: Working with young people ages 6-18 to reach their full potential through after-school programs emphasizing academic support, workforce development, and strengthening social skills. The Boys & Girls Clubs work to ensure families have the support they need during after-school hours.

Grant Amount: $3,500

Project: Providing healthy snacks and meals at Boys & Girls Club summer camp.

“We know that some families rely on school lunch programs, and we want to be able to provide those options for kids, even when they are not in school,” Jim Pinkerton, director of public relations and marketing, said. “We know that a lot of children go without or live on “quick meals” during non-school days and extended school breaks.”

Bushelcraft Farm

Mission: An educational farm supporting community access to healthy food, meaningful experiences in nature, and providing experience-based, creative skills training for everyone to grow.

Grant Amount: $5,000

Project: Providing support to low-income families by supplying fresh produce regularly through the farm’s community-supported agriculture (CSA) program.

Center for Healing and Hope

Mission: Offering medical and advocacy services to meet community needs. The center is a welcoming place for affordable healthcare and immigrant services, promoting clients’ physical, emotional, and spiritual well-being.

Grant Amount: $25,000

Project: Gift cards to local grocery stores for immigrants and other community members who are food insecure.

“We encounter people in need who in the past two years have had COVID, have had a family member with COVID, or who have long-COVID and are unable to work. We also encounter immigrants who have recently arrived in the community and have not yet found employment,” Missy Kauffman Schrock, center executive director, explained.

Child and Parent Services (CAPS)

Mission: Supporting families to ensure every child lives free from abuse and neglect by offering opportunities and services to equip parents with the tools they need to succeed and to provide kids with a happy, healthy childhood.

Grant Amount: $10,000

Project: The $10,000 will fund CAPS’ Family Resource Center outreach, linking families to a network of support services and community resources. In addition to offering services at our facility in Elkhart, a “family resource navigator” will have weekly hours at the Goshen Public Library. Navigators help families with one-on-one parenting support for everyday problems like picky eating, establishing a bedtime routine, or more difficult child behaviors. They also connect families to resources such as childcare, insurance coverage, mental health services, and stable housing.

Food Bank of Northern Indiana

Mission: Feeding the hungry, increasing awareness of the effects of hunger, and leading programs to alleviate it. Food Bank of Northern Indiana serves six counties in partnership with 125 agencies and the community.

Grant Amount: $20,000

Project: Hunger is a community health issue. More than 23,000 residents – 11.3% – are food insecure, and nearly 8,000 are children in Elkhart County alone. ARP grant funds will provide mobile food distributions to Goshen and greater Elkhart County neighbors, including perishable and non-perishable foods.

Cora Dale House

Mission: Empowering people with mental illness through friendship, meaningful work, and cultivating strengths. Cora Dale House is an intentional work community for adults with mental illness, focusing on employment and housing.

Grant Amount: $19,704

Project: Grant and matching funds will be used to rebuild the home’s back porch and add a universal-access ramp. The ramp will offer greater access for community members to Cora Dale House supports for building capacity for employment and relationships.

Goshen Christian Montessori School

Mission: A small Montessori-inspired preschool enabling students to gain independence, confidence, and emotional and social stability. GCMS emphasizes child-led activities, hands-on learning, and outdoor play in mixed-age classrooms.

Grant Amount: $5,000

Project: Strengthening preschool programming for young children through equipment and curriculum purchases, staff support, and tuition scholarships for families with financial need. Quality child care and early childhood education programs are essential to the local community and economy. Through greater access to GCMS programming, area children will build a foundation for kindergarten readiness and school success.

Goshen Health System

Mission: Improving the health of our community by providing outstanding care and services. Goshen Health identifies health needs and focuses resources on programs that improve health outcomes and reduce disparities in vulnerable populations through collaborating with the community.

Grant Amount: $24,960

Project: Accessing affordable and nutritious food is a challenge for many families. Goshen Health will partner with Cultivate Food Rescue to expand a weekend backpack meal distribution program in the summer to help bridge the gap in food needs over the weekend. Each backpack contains six nutritionally balanced meals created from locally-rescued food. The program targets the most vulnerable populations using the CDC’s Social Vulnerability Index (SVI) and the USDA Food Access Research Atlas (FARA) measures.

Goshen Maple City Kiwanis Club

Mission: A global organization of volunteers, Kiwanis is dedicated to improving the world, one child and one community at a time.

Grant Amount: $10,000

Project: Replenishing the Maple City’s chapter’s inventory of school supplies, depleted due to Covid, given to teachers around the community. The Kiwanis’ signature project, Tools-4-Schools, started in 2002 and has provided hundreds of teachers with thousands of dollars in school supplies in the past 17 years. Last year, more than$86,000 (estimated retail price) of supplies were provided to around 300 teachers.

Goshen Stars Soccer Club

Mission:  With volunteer coaches and managers, the Goshen Stars provides a place to teach and develop the area’s more highly-skilled youth soccer players at a minimal cost, as well as a safe place for learning life skills through soccer.

Grant Amount: $75,000 (three years at $25,000)

Project: Improvements to the Goshen Stars’ soccer park, delayed by the economic downturn in 2008 and later by the pandemic. Projects that will finally be addressed with grant funds include repair to the field and swale, backstop netting, soccer goals, field signage, and irrigation.

“When Covid-19 hit, we lost income from our spring season that had to be canceled,” board president Millard Graeber said. “The ARP funds we have just been awarded from the city of Goshen will go a long way toward our recovery.”

Maple City Health Care Center

Mission: Fostering healthy connections in our neighborhood by providing and promoting affordable, accessible, and integrated quality care. A healthy body and mind enable the joy, contentment, and success that foster a vibrant community in Goshen.

Grant Amount: $25,000

Project: Providing Covid vaccinations at no out-of-pocket cost to area residents through a bilingual drive-up vaccine clinic and in-office visits. By July 2022, Maple City had provided more than 4,500 vaccinations to Goshen residents, exceeding its goal for the year of 4,000. Residents benefitting from the program are about 70% Hispanic, 60% economically disadvantaged, with 70% unable to obtain health insurance.

Ryan’s Place

Mission: Providing support for bereaved children and their families as they come to terms with living without their loved ones. Ryan’s Place is the only standalone grief support center for children and adults in our community.
“Ryan’s Place ensures all of the families who come to us are given a safe place to grieve and express their feelings at their own pace,” organization president and CEO Aileac Deegan said.

Grant Amount: $20,000

Project: One in eleven children in Indiana will face the death of a parent or sibling by the time they are 18 years old. The ARP grant allows Ryan’s Place to continue providing services to the community at its current level: access to 1,000 individuals each year to programs including group support, individual counseling, an expressive art group, school-based grief groups, and a crisis support team.

ULEAD

Mission: A youth development organization helping youth, youth workers, educators, and youth-serving organizations become better servant leaders through training focused on strengthening social-emotional skills.

Grant Amount: $11,500

Project: Funds go to support a variety of events in conjunction with World Kindness Day (November 13) around the community. Planned events include StoryCorps times with The Electric Brew where neighbors can hear stories of kindness while sharing their own; a sponsored showing the Mr. Rogers documentary, Won’t You Be My Neighbor?, and a one-day child development conference on November 12.

• ADEC, Inc., $25,000:  ADEC summer camp
• Bashor Home of The United Methodist Church, Inc., $25,000: Benevolent care services and “Safe Place” community training
• Boys & Girls Clubs of Elkhart County, Inc., $3,500: Summer camp food support
• Bushelcraft Farm Corporation, $5,000:  Fresh food for families in Goshen’s food desert
• Center For Healing And Hope, Inc., $25,000:  Food Security with Dignity, and the Natural Helpers program
• Child and Parent Services, Inc. (CAPS), $10,000: Family resource center navigator
• Council on Aging of Elkhart County, Inc., $25,000: Access to healthcare for low-incomeseniors and the disabled
• Cora Dale House (Elkhart County Clubhouse, Inc.), $19,704: Home repairs and installation of a ramp
• Food Bank of Northern Indiana, Inc., $20,000: Mobile food distributions for city of Goshen and greater Elkhart County
• Goshen Christian Montessori School, Inc., $5,000: Expanding high-quality child-care options for low/moderate income families