Rockville Rotary Awards $78K in Grants to 13 Nonprofits

The Rotary Club of Rockville awarded more than $78,000 in grants to 13 nonprofit organizations on Thursday as part of the club’s annual Charter Night.

Rotarians raised $78,645 through the 2012 DARCARS Rockville Rotary Twilight Runfest in July. More than 2,000 runners participated in the 27th Twilight Runfest, which includes an 8K and a 1K “fun run” through Rockville Town Center.

Co-sponsored by the City of Rockville and the Montgomery County Roadrunners Club, a total of $41,822 of the Runfest proceeds went to the City of Rockville Recreation Fund. The Rockville Rotary Club Foundation awarded the rest of the proceeds through grants to local and international nonprofits that provide for human needs, youth activities and cultural enrichment.

Grants are awarded through a competitive process. In 2012, the foundation received 14 requests totaling $68,900 and fulfilled 12 of the requests, totaling $47,500.

“Grant recipients reflect the community’s diversity as well as worldwide needs,” according to a news release on the Rotary Club of Rockville’s website.

The recipients were:

• Arts for the Aging, Inc.: $4,000 to conduct free arts workshops for frail older adults.
• Best Buddies Maryland: $2,000 to support friendship-pairing programs at Rockville and Thomas S. Wootton high schools and Tilden Middle School.
• Cub Scout Pack 492, Boy Scouts of America: $2,600 to assist with pack programs and to aid struggling families.
• Equipment Connections for Children: $3,000 to purchase used adaptive equipment for children with disabilities.
• The Finest Performance Foundation, Inc.: $2,000 to help send the troupe on .
• Rainbow Place (at Rockville Presbyterian Church): $3,900 to replace the aged commercial refrigerator and residential freezer in the women’s shelter.
• Rockville Cemetery Association: $5,000 for gravestone conservation, repairs, and a public workshop at the historic burying ground.
• Rockville Rotary Club: $5,000 for: dictionaries for all third graders in Rockville schools, awards for science fair winners, the high school recognition program and various charitable local and international projects.
• Rockville Rotary Club/ Rotary International–PolioPlus: $2,000 to fund vaccinations.
• Stepping Stones Shelter: $3,000 for the Client Assistance Fund to address resident needs, mainly related to employment and housing. Click here for a Rockville Patch photo gallery from the shelter.
• The Treatment and Learning Centers: $5,000 to buy curriculum and training materials and occupational therapy equipment for preschoolers to second graders.
• YR Gaitonde Medical, Educational and Research Foundation: $10,000 to support the ECO women’s entrepreneurship kitchen in Chennai, South India.

A Rotary International call to eradicate polio inspired the club to start the annual Twilight Runfest. To date, Rockville Rotarians and their partners have raised more than $1million for local programs and international projects, including polio immunizations, a “mammobus“ and the eco-kitchen in India, and rebuilding a school in Haiti.

Applications for 2013 grants are due on March 31, 2013.  

The Rotary Club of Rockville is celebrating 83 years of service to the community. Rotarians meet for lunch each Thursday to hear speakers, plan service projects, and enjoy each other’s company.

Click here to learn more about the Rotary Club of Rockville, foundation grants, and the Twilight Runfest.