Summit Foundation Awards $43K in Grant Money

Supporting a variety of civic and educational programs, the Summit Area Public Foundation has awarded almost $43,000 to three organizations that provide services in the region.

, a Summit-based group that serves the homeless, has recived $12,640 to support its outtreach programs and to purchases clothing and school supplies for homeless families.

Summit Area Public Foundation (SAPF) is a donor-supported 501(c)(3) charitable foundation that provides funding to nonprofit agencies serving people in the Summit area.

The has received two grants totaling $20,000. One will aid the arboretum’s continuing efforts to deal with the damage from last year’s Tropical Storm Irene, which was followed by October’s freak snowstorm. Both caused extensive damage at the arboretum.

The other SAPF grant will foster the arboretum’s EcoCorps, a learning initiative for teenagers from Summit, Springfield, New Providence and Berkeley Heights. It uses the Arboretum’s woodlands, wetland area, landscaped gardens and greenhouse as an outdoor classroom to teach environmental science.

A grant of $10,000 went to St. Vincent Academy in Newark, a college preparatory high school for women of diverse backgrounds, many of whom face societal and economic challenges. As part of the school’s Service in Community program, students volunteer at schools, hospitals, daycare centers, nursing homes, advocacy groups and multi-purpose community agencies. Younger students organize school-based events that serve young children, the elderly or handicapped individuals.

—By Reagan Burkholder, Public Relations