PORT ANGELES — First Fed Foundation has awarded $300,000 in grant funding to 18 nonprofits, bringing housing, help and hope to community members in Clallam, Jefferson, Kitsap and Whatcom counties as well as the city of Bellevue.
“With these fall grant awards, the Foundation’s giving has exceeded $7.3 million to date,” said Jan Simon, First Fed Foundation’s Executive Director. “Our funding is guided by the vision of our sole donor, First Fed, as we invest in efforts that foster the well-being of our friends and neighbors in the communities where the bank operates full-service branches.”
“The need in our communities for housing, food, childcare and healthcare is almost overwhelming and really humbling,” said Cindy Finnie, Foundation board member. “It’s an honor to support our grantees in addressing these needs and being part of the solution.
“Having received 45 grant applications in this cycle, our board and advisory committee had to make tough decisions about which projects to fund,” said Norman J. Tonina, president of the Foundation’s board. “In addition to awarding grants to organizations providing critical services to our communities, we are excited to support job training and apprenticeship programs that develop career skills and focus for young adults, and lead to satisfying, living-wage jobs.”
Grants in the foundation’s fall cycle were awarded for the following purposes and funding priorities:
Housing & Homelessness
4PA: $25,000 to bring the electrical to code at the Touchstone Campus in Port Angeles, the future site of temporary housing with bathrooms, showers, laundry facilities, and recreation and kitchen areas, providing a safe place for 14 formerly homeless individuals to live, work, learn life skills, develop community, and, with the support of a case worker, transition to self-sufficiency.
Olympic Peninsula Community Clinic: $45,000 to fund the Homeless Medical Respite program, where unsheltered Clallam County community members can recover from acute medical conditions and receive ongoing care, support and intensive case management.
PorchLight: $25,000 to provide additional staffing, bedding, sleeping accommodations, nutritious meals, hygiene facilities and supplies so that an additional 15 to 25 men from Bellevue can be sheltered during extreme weather this winter.
Road2Home: $25,000 to hire an outreach coordinator who will recruit and train volunteers to provide chronically homeless adults in Whatcom County with resource navigation, care coordination, companionship and a pathway to permanent shelter.
Community Development
Jefferson Healthcare Foundation: $25,000 for radiation oncology equipment, which will provide an essential component of cancer treatment to as many as 300 Jefferson County patients each year while mitigating the additional burden of traveling for treatment at a difficult and vulnerable time.
North Olympic Healthcare Network: $25,000 for equipment needed to expand mobile health clinic services to include school-based, on-site preventative dental and vision services for Clallam County youth.
North Olympic Library System: $25,000 to help construct a new Sequim Library, a free resource open to all community members, that will include ADA-accessible bathrooms, larger collections, improved access to broadband and computers, study and conference rooms for telehealth and remote work, and more space for educational, cultural and civic events.
Economic Development
Nooksack Salmon Enhancement Association: $25,000 to support 40 entry-level, paid apprenticeships for Whatcom County college students in the environmental field to develop their career and benefit from networking and real-world work experience.
Northwest Maritime: $25,000 to expand vocational programs for underserved Jefferson County youth, equipping them with essential skills and certifications and supporting them in achieving living-wage jobs.
Community Support
Bainbridge Youth Services: $7,000 to provide greater access to free, one-on-one professional mental health therapy to 250-plus Kitsap County youth ages 13 to 21.
Feiro Marine Life Center: $5,000 to provide hands-on watershed science education, both in the classroom and in the field, to more than 400 fourth-graders and their teachers from public and home schools in Port Angeles, Sequim, Crescent, Cape Flattery and Quillayute.
Jumping Mouse Children’s Center: $6,000 to make the building and grounds wheelchair accessible, bringing a wider range of opportunities for expressive mental healthcare to disabled children in Jefferson County.
Kidzz Helping Kidzz: $5,000 to support the youth-led collection of 4,000 pounds of food for distribution to more than 3,000 low-income Bremerton and South Kitsap youth.
North Cascades Institute: $5,000 to support more than 1,100 Whatcom County fifth- and sixth-graders, from more than 16 public schools, to participate in an immersive, three-day, two-night environmental education program in North Cascades Park.
North Olympic Foster Parent Association: $5,000 to help fulfill the basic needs of more than 130 Clallam County foster kids by providing funding for clothing, school supplies and extracurricular and enrichment activities.
Peacock Family Services: $12,000 to provide children from north Kitsap County with high-quality preschool and daycare programs, regardless of their family’s income level.
Volunteer Hospice of Clallam County: $5,000 to purchase hospital beds and mattresses which, along with a range of medical equipment, are loaned for as long as needed and at no charge to hospice patients and the community from Lending Closets in Port Angeles and Sequim.
Whatcom Family YMCA: $5,000 to furnish a new teen center and intergenerational space on the main floor of the downtown Bellingham YMCA, making it a bright, vibrant and engaging gathering place for youth and seniors.
