Northern Chautauqua Community Foundation (NCCF) announces 15 Service Learning Mini-Grant awards that include artistic, physical fitness, environmental and community-inspired projects.
Sixth-grade students at Fredonia Central School will be a part of the Custom Pens for Active US Military Project. Working with a lathe, drill press, and other tools, students will make wooden pens. These will be shipped, with personal notes, to service men and women from the local community.
Westfield Academy & Central School has found a creative way to bring back traditional skills and hobbies through the Long Lost Trades Project. Seventh and eighth graders will plan an event for local seniors. At the event, students will learn gardening, knitting and other “lost trades” from the seniors. They will also play games familiar to the seniors.
As a part of Chautauqua Lake Central School’s Metamorphosis Project, high school students will study the decline of the monarch butterfly. Following their investigation, the students will build and maintain five butterfly habitat gardens throughout northern Chautauqua County.
There were an additional twelve Service Learning Mini-Grant Projects approved for the 2016 – 2017 school year. Brocton Central School – Beautifying Brocton; Cassadaga Valley Central School – Key Club Connects; Chautauqua Lake Central School – Urban Rural Pepper Project; Dunkirk City Schools – Little Free Library, Sharing Warmth, Life Skills to Help Others; Erie 2 BOCES – Operation Help & Clean Up, Big Buddy Little Buddy Program; Fredonia Central School – Murals of Discovery, Canvas & Cocoa; Westfield Academy & Central School – Cemetery Clean Up & Veterans Breakfast and Miles for Smiles.
The Service Learning Mini-Grant program began in 2013 with a pilot program in the Fredonia Central School District. Since then, NCCF has continued to work with local educators to bring community service opportunities into the classroom awarding 67 mini-grants totaling $27,928.
Contact NCCF for more information on the NCCF Service Learning Mini-Grant Program at nccf@nccfoundation.org or 716-366-4892. More information is also available on the website at www.nccfoundation.org/service-learning.
The NCCF, celebrating 30 years of charitable leadership, is committed to improving the community through the promotion of local philanthropy, strategic grantmaking, and community leadership. Served by a small staff and governed by an all-volunteer board of directors, the organization has distributed over $12.2 million in the form of grants and scholarships within the community. Truly community in nature, the NCCF is an organization created by and for the people of northern Chautauqua County. For more information, visit www.nccfoundation.org.
