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Bethlehem Lutheran Church of St. Charles announced the recipients of its Expansive Church Grant opportunity. Nine local nonprofit organizations each were awarded between $2,000 and $3,300.
A total of $23,596 was awarded to the following organizations:
• Kane County Christmas Card was awarded $2,000. Its mission is to provide incarcerated people in Kane County with Christmas cards and postage so they can connect with their families over the holidays. The grant funding was used to buy 1,400 Christmas cards and stamps.
• Rising Lights was awarded $3,000. Its mission is to provide an environment in which individuals with disabilities can thrive, learn, laugh and engage with the community through gardening. The funding will be used to buy equipment for indoor gardening.
• Big Hearts of Fox Valley was awarded $2,298. The organization’s goal is to brighten the lives of District 303 children affected by financial hardship at Christmastime by hosting gift drives, coat drives and other donation events throughout the school year.
• Random Acts of Kindness Foundation was awarded $3,298. The organization was founded to inspire and facilitate kindness through free resources focusing on schools, workplaces, homes and communities. The funding will be used to facilitate random good deeds in the community.
• Elgin Community Bikes was awarded $2,500. The organization uses bike riding to make Elgin a healthier, happier and more equitable community by hosting free community bike rides to connect people with one another. The funding will be used to buy, repair and refurbish used bicycles that will be donated to community members in need.
• Mutual Ground was awarded $2,500. Its goal is to empower individuals, families and communities to eliminate domestic and sexual violence and the harms of substance use through education, awareness and life-changing services. It will use the funding to buy athletic equipment for disadvantaged students so they have the opportunity to participate in team sports with their peers.
• CHIP IN Batavia was awarded $3,000. The organization works with local service groups, businesses and individuals to help students and families in the Batavia school district who are homeless or on free or reduced lunch and in need of support. The grant funding will provide before- and after-school services for disadvantaged students.
• Joshua Tree Community was awarded $2,500. The organization runs day programs for nonaggressive young adults with intellectual disabilities who are 22 and older or 18 to 21 and no longer in public education. The funding will provide an underserved community of adults a means to participate in activities that will enrich their lives on a daily basis year round.
• Fox Valley Christian Action was awarded $2,500. The organization partners with local churches to disciple people in under-resourced communities of the Fox River Valley. The funding will support the Teen Night Together program for middle school and high school teens, where they will be provided with meals and Christian education.
The Expansive Church Grant program was the idea of Deacon Heather Feltmann. After putting a new roof on the church in 2020, she decided they could turn their annual debt payments into a way to benefit the community and started setting aside 10% of those payment funds to give back to the community.
The program is intended to be an incubator and accelerator for entrepreneurs and nonprofits that address social issues and community needs. Applicants did not have to be religious organizations and could be located anywhere in the Fox Valley. The only prerequisite was they must be working toward making a positive social change.
The church received 39 applicants. They were reviewed by a committee of church members and clergy who determined which applicants were awarded funding and the amount they received.
Feltmann said she was pleasantly surprised by the amount of applicants they received.
“I was just really, really grateful for the church’s giving spirit,” Feltmann said. “There’s such joy in being able to hear people’s stories and connect them to our stories at Bethlehem.”
Joel Mulder has been a member of the congregation since 1990 and was one of eight committee members who reviewed the grant applications. He said the selection process was difficult with more than 600 pages of applications and at times emotional reading through the stories from so many deserving organizations.
“You just don’t realize how much need there is even within our community,” Mulder said. “It was really heartwarming and eye-opening for everybody and I think in future years we’re going to get even more.”
Mulder said the committee decided it wanted to give more grants for smaller amounts rather than large amounts to just a few. It also wanted to make sure it chose recipients that would benefit the most and had a clear vision for how the funding would be spent. He said the committee worked for weeks to narrow it down to the final nine.
“I think the best part is people realizing how impactful even these small amounts of gifts can make in peoples’ lives,” Feltmann said. “I think the myth is that you have to spend a whole lot of money to make a huge difference, but there’s also a lot of good work you can do in our backyard and it can really make a difference.”
Feltmann said the most moving part of the process was seeing how much the committee members were impacted just by reading the stories in the applications. She said it isn’t everyday you see a group of grown men brought to tears.
“You could not read through those grant applications without some tissues,” Mulder said.
The grant is intended to be an annual event until the debt is paid off and Feltmann said the hope is that as their debt payments start to decrease, they can increase the amount of grant funding to distribute.
Organizations that did not receive funding this year are encouraged to reapply next year. Applications will open again in September 2024 and close in November 2024.
Bethlehem Lutheran Church also collects a “noisy offering” in which children from the congregation bring up change donations and throw them into a metal jug during services to make some noise. The children, ranging from kindergarten to eighth grade, raised $1,000 and voted on which organizations would receive the funds.
From the noisy offering, Jefferson Micro-Pantry in Aurora, Big Hearts of Fox Valley and Elgin Community Bikes each will receive $333.33. Although the Jefferson Micro-Pantry did not receive grant funding, Mulder said it was one of their favorite organizations, working to provide breakfast, lunch and dinner for disadvantaged Aurora students twice a week.
Organizers said they are looking forward to having the recipient organizations visit the church over the next year to explain how the funding was used to impact peoples’ lives.