Rural Action Grant

Rural action is in its 9th year running youth summer camp. Their goal is to contribute to the overall wellness of youth and to also give children the tools they need to care for the land and improve their quality of life through environmental stewardship. These camps run for only one week, but in that one week kids have an opportunity to learn about the nature around them, which is a big change of pace from being cooped up in a classroom all school year. From hiking to canoeing to hanging out on the beach, kids get to do it all in a week's time.

The campers lead by Joe Brehm, Rural Action's new Environmental Education Program Director, see many different parks in Southeast Ohio in the week they have together. They began the week at the Glouster Community Park, followed by the Trimble Community Park, and then they traveled to the Wilds, located in Cumberland, Ohio, where they were able to get a look at the wide array of animals such as Rhinos and Giraffes. Thursday they traveled to Monroe Outlook and they ended the week at Burr Oak State Park on Friday. Guest speakers teach the kids in small groups. While I was there the children were learning more about a fish's natural habitat. Later, every camper was given a fishing rod and they were taught how to tie a fishing hook and learned how to properly cast a fishing rod. Earlier in the week the kids were taught a survival program by the Program director Joe which included how to properly make fire without a set of matches.

None of these camps and the learning experiences that go along with them would be possible if it wasn't for funding from outside organizations such as the Athens Foundation. Rural Action receives a substantial EPA grant during the school year which helps with environmental learning projects in the classroom, but this grant does not apply to extracurricular activities such as these camps during the summer. That is where the Athens Foundation and other organizations come into the picture to help Rural Action with their mission of fostering social, economic, and environmental justice in Appalachian Ohio. The Athens Foundation awarded Rural Action a $3,000 grant to fund these youth summer camps. Specifically, this money has gone towards paying for increasing transportation costs for the children to and from parks. This money has also gone towards giving the kids two meals a day as well as more supplies and equipment such as butterfly nets and fishing rods. Besides the summer camps, the money will also be used to conduct eight library programs throughout Athens County focusing on environmental and leadership issues among youth. Also, money will be used to provide outdoor programming for at least sixty children through Kids on Campus and Trimble Elementary School. The rest of the money will go towards outdoor leadership activities at the Hocking Valley Community Residential Center that will include at least twenty at-risk youths. The Athens Foundation can undeniably say that the grant money they have awarded to Rural Action is being used to enhance the quality of life of people throughout our region in a productive way.

Athens Food Security

Worldwide around 852 million people are chronically hungry due to extreme poverty, while up to 2 billion people lack food security intermittently due to varying degrees of poverty (source: FAO, 2003).

Food security refers to the availability of food and one's access to it. A household is considered food-secure when its occupants do not live in hunger or fear of starvation. According to the World Resources Institute, global per capita food production has been increasing substantially for the past several decades.

Southeast Ohio ranks 2.5 percent higher in food insecurity than the national average. There are over 13,000 people (or around 20 percent) of people in Athens County are food insecure. 40 percent of the residents in Athens County qualify for food stamps.

The Southeast Ohio Food Bank is the only food bank in Ohio that serves in an area with no metropolitan draw. There are 21 food pantries or meal sites in Athens County alone. While they serve all of Athens, the volunteer leadership within these pantries is aging and fresh produce storage is a problem for them. Also, food producers do not donate as much to food banks because of improved quality control. These factors have reduced donations by as much as 60 percent.

There are several state programs which directly benefit Athens food security. The first, the Ohio Agricultural Surplus Program pays Ohio growers and farmers fair market value to harvest products and transport them to food banks and their networks. Two million of the eight million pounds of food distributed by the Southeast Ohio Food Bank came from this program (or 30 percent). Second, there are Purchase Programs designed for the state to purchase canned goods in bulk for food.

Because of increased demand for food, it has become increasingly difficult for food to be distributed to families across the area. Due to the economic downturn, demand for food from food banks has dramatically increased and pantries are not able to be open for enough hours because they are run solely by volunteers.

Those who run food the Southeast Ohio Food Bank not only aim to increase the number of volunteers in food banks and increase the amount of preservable food given to them, but they aim to educate those who are in need as well.

They hope to help educate in the areas of food preparation, self-sufficiency and preservation.

The proceeds from the first annual Athens Key Event on September 24, 2011 will benefit food security initiatives in Athens.

The Women's Fund commemorates its fifth year anniversary

On June 7^th, The Athens Foundation will honor members and donors of the Women’s Fund with a special evening reception. The event will take place at 5:30 p.m. at the Eclipse Company Store, located in The Plains.

Celebrating its 5^th year anniversary, the Women’s Fund Celebration will honor members who have met their pledge goals of $5,000 over a five-year period as well as new donors who have recently pledged to the Women’s Fund. In addition, the gala aims to honor the founders of the Women’s Fund, who created a legacy of stewardship and philanthropy in the region.

The Women’s Fund is especially important for Kate Leeman, one of the original founders of and contributors to the Fund.

“I first became interested in this project because, although women and girls suffer the most from poverty, they simultaneously offer the greatest hope for change,” Ms. Leeman said. Her longstanding involvement with The Athens Foundation and the Women’s Fund stems from her desire to help educate women and give them opportunities to succeed, in turn encouraging them to give back to and better their communities. “With the Women’s Fund, I think we were hoping to encourage local nonprofits to develop programming specifically targeted to meet the needs of low-income women and girls,” she continued.

The Women’s Fund endowment is used to award grants for projects that may not receive support from more traditional sources. These include start-up or ongoing social, educational and artistic endeavors for and by women and girls.

First Annual AF Key Event

The Athens Foundation will host their first annual Key Event on September 24, 2011.
The event is modeled after the Key Event held at the West Chester Liberty Community
Foundation and will raise money for Food Security in the Athens area as well as support the ongoing work of the Foundation.

The event will take place in the Baker Center Ballroom, and in host homes throughout
Athens. Upon arrival at Baker center, attendees will take part in a live and silent auction in which they will bid on vacation destinations and other luxury items.

At the auction, the attendees will select a “key” to their dinner destination, which will be revealed at the end of the auction.

Each key gives the recipient access to a host home in the Athens area. There will be
approximately 20 homes available each with a gourmet chef from a restaurant or caterer in the region. Guests will join their hosts in their homes and will be treated to a homemade gourmet meal prepared right in their kitchen.

The following chefs have been secured for this year’s event:

Hilarie Burhans – Salaam

Matt Rapposelli – Ohio University

Tom Landusky – Hocking College

Libby Markham – Busy Day Market Catering

Doug Weber – Hocking College

John Gutenkanst – Avalanche Pizza

Fran McFadden – Ohio University

Andy Henry – Inn at Hocking College

Ty Williams – Athens Country Club

Anthony Schulz – Inn at Cedar Falls

Scott Bradley – Zoe’s

Kevin Hurst – Lattitude’s

Jon Lang – Ohio University Inn

Barbara Fisher – Salaam

Early online bidding will begin soon on the Athens Foundation website.

For more information about the event, please continue to follow our blog, and check our website.