Foundation distributes $10K locally

The Cherokee County Community Foundation (CCCF) announced $10,103 worth of grants from the Community Endowment Fund on Tuesday that provide money for four local philanthropic organizations.

“The CCCF was created to do just this,” said Ben Kochenower, vice chairman of the group’s board of directors. “We are here to assist in the efforts of local groups to affect the quality of life in our community. I’d like to thank all the other board members and individu-als who made these grants possi-ble.”

Kochenower announced the fol-lowing programs received grants for the following purposes:

— Alzheimer’s Association: $2,625 to purchase materials for workshops to present information that can help reduce some of the risks for Alzheimer’s disease.

— American Red Cross: $478 to train instructors and purchase pre-vention materials to provide free HIV/AIDS education to prevent the spread of HIV by encouraging peo-ple to respond in informed ways to the risk of HIV infection and to people who have HIV.

— Cherokee Pregnancy Center: Provisionally awarded a chal-lenge grant for $4,500 annually for 2005 and 2006. Grant funds would be used to pay the salary for a nurse to run an ultrasound unit. Funds will be paid as individual donors and additional funding sources match each year’s challenge.

— Senior Centers of Chero-kee County, Inc.: $2,500 to cre-ate a safe, fenced-in, attractive quarter-mile walking trail, pic-nic area, and parking for sen-ior adults and Head Start chil-dren.

The Cherokee County Com-munity Foundation is a perma-nent endowment established in 1995 by local leaders to benefit a wide range of charitable pur-poses. Since its inception, the foundation has awarded more than $113,000 in grants to com-munity organizations.

The foundation assists donors in making charitable gifts to the community, pro-vides services for nonprofit organizations to create new or manage existing endowments and makes grants for new projects. It is a part of Founda-tion For The Carolinas, which serves 13 communities in North Carolina and South Car-olina.

The chairman of the board of directors is John B. Travers. Ben D. Kochenower is vice chair, Gloria Gault Geary is secretary and Jane N. Gaino is immediate past president. Other board members are C. Samuel Burns, James M. Cudd, Bernelle Demo, Lawrence C. Foster Sr., W. Carlisle Ham-rick, Sara J. Hankinson, Joe Howell, Roger W. Huskey, Joseph L. Mathis, and Clinton L. McClary Jr. Oscar M. Fuller serves as development consult-ant to the organization.