The Chilkat Valley Community Foundation awarded roughly $57,000 to twenty-four community organizations at their 2022 annual CVCF grants event. This surpasses 2021’s grant allocation by nearly $25,000 and awards eight more organizations than the previous year, something that Liz Heywood, Co-Chair at CVCF, credits to increasing endowments. Notably, the late Lucy Harrell’s donation of $1 million in 2021 has contributed to a substantial increase in funds.
“It was an incredible gift, it doubled our endowment,” Carolyn Ganner, Co-Chair at CVCF said.
This year the CVCF received more applications this year than any year prior, according to Heywood.
“We have very active non-profits doing things for the community all the time,”
Heywood said. “The need is there and as we have more money we are going to get more applications. I think it’s exciting that because of the generosity of the donors we were able to support twenty four organizations and the projects they’re doing to make life better in the Chilkat Valley.”
The grant includes an additional $110,000 in Emergency Response Funds for disaster recovery, the majority of which was distributed after the December 2020 landslide.
“Overall, we’ve granted just shy of $192,000 last year and this year for disaster recovery,” Heywood said. “That is still ongoing. SAIL and CIA will still be working independently with disaster recovery through probably next summer.”
New recipients this year include Alaska Avalanche School, the Ministerial Association wood ministry program, Haines Assisted Living, and the Chilkoot Indian Association.
CIA has allocated their funds to buy textbooks for Tricky Raven, a Tlingit Language Initiative.
“It’s taken us a long time to get to the point as an organization to have the luxury of offering culture and language classes, it’s not something we could actually do previously,” Tribal Administrator Harriet Brouillette said.
The Haines School District was awarded $5,000 for Jenae’s playground project. The project has raised nearly $310,000 in 15 months, with a final goal of $450,000. Kim Larson, Jenae’s mother, said she anticipates construction to begin this spring.
Haines Animal Rescue Kennel (HARK) received $2,500 for certified pet emergency education classes.
Four Winds Resource Center received $2,500 for a log splitter for their tool library.
The Haines Little League received $3,000 for an electronic scoreboard.
Haines Friends of Recycling received $2,095 for a recycling internship.
The Salvation Army received $3,000 for operating support with the food pantry.
The Senior Center received $2,300 for operating support.