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CKCF awards $185K through Granted Program

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The Central Kentucky Community Foundation on Thursday announced the recipients of more than $185,000 in grant funding through the foundation’s Granted Program.

“Granted is our annual competitive grant opportunity for nonprofits that serve our nine-county region to apply for funding for various areas to help carry out their missions,” said CKCF President and CEO Davette Swiney.

24 grants were awarded to 22 different organizations in what the foundation says was the biggest year yet for the Granted Program.

“The thing I love about Granted is it’s open to any organization serving our region, so it’s not specific for education or healthcare or human services,” Swiney said. “It’s open to any organization, so with that we’ve got a wide variety of missions and causes that organizations support.”

The Granted Program announcement coincides with National Community Foundation Week, which culminates Saturday with National Philanthropy Day. Find the list of recipients and more information by visiting www.ckcf4people.org.

FOHCAS offering free outdoor cat shelters

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As the weather turns colder, Friends of Hardin County Animal Shelter is helping area residents who care for outdoor or community cats.

FOHCAS says for the fourth year the organization will be offering free winter cat shelters. The shelters are made of sturdy styrofoam donated by Eurotrol and filled with straw to help outdoor cats get out of the cold.

“These are for cats who live outdoors, who may be feral, or are just being fed by a caretaker but don’t have an indoor home, and so these shelters help to provide some shelter during the winter,” said FOHCAS Board Chair Sarah Fellows.

FOHCAS volunteers will be distributing the shelters from 10 to 11 a.m. on Saturday, November 22 behind the Hardin County Animal Shelter, located at 220 Peterson Drive in Elizabethtown.

“You’ll just turn down Headquarters Drive right beside the Hardin County Animal Shelter,” Fellows said. “You’ll go past their parking lot and go straight down through the end of that street, which is a cul-de-sac. It’s a very short street and we’ll be there from 10 a.m. to 11 a.m. or until those are gone.”

There is a limit of two shelters per car. The shelters are free but donations will be accepted. For more information on the organization, visit the Friends of Hardin County Animal Shelter Facebook page or website.

Olive Branch Fund invites public to Adopt-a-Fraser event

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The Olive Branch Fund, a nonprofit fund created by Olive and Oak Realty and housed out of the Central Kentucky Community Foundation, invites the public to help support their mission of supporting adoptive families at their Adopt-a-Fraser event, to be held November 28 and 29 at Village Green Landscaping in Elizabethtown.

Olive and Oak owner and Olive Branch Fund founder Tara Still says area businesses are sponsoring trees that will be on display at the event.

“The businesses are going to go in and decorate each tree with a different theme,” Still said. “These businesses have spent money to buy the tree and buy the decorations and taken time to decorate all these trees, and then we are going to auction these trees off at that event.”

A silent auction will also be held along with other activities.

“We have Santa, we have music, activities for the kids, food trucks, giveaways, and then we also have vendors,” Still said. “Since it’s going to be Black Friday and Small Business Saturday, we have vendors who are setting up in tents.”

All proceeds will support the Olive Branch Fund, which Still started based on the experience she and her husband had with the adoption process. The fund aims to help ease the financial burden on families looking to adopt.

“It’s typically around $20,000 to $50,000 to adopt, and I just remember thinking, ‘what if we didn’t have the means to do this? What would we have done?’” Still said. “So it’s always been something that’s just been huge on my heart.”

Visit the Olive Branch Fund Facebook page to learn more about the organization and the Adopt-a-Fraser event.

Second Elizabethtown food event Friday at sports park

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The City of Elizabethtown, in partnership with Feeding America, Kentucky’s Heartland, will be hosting their second mobile food pantry event this Friday at the Elizabethtown Sports Park.

The giveaway will begin at noon, with food distributed until it runs out.

Elizabethtown Mayor Jeff Gregory said during the November 3 Elizabethtown City Council meeting the city was aiming to provide meals for 1,000 households at each of three planned feeding events.

“We encourage anybody that’s struggling, or especially since we’re having the shutdown, the government shutdown, and people are losing some of their benefits, we’re going to try to compensate for that a little bit and see if we can hand out some food each Friday for the next three weeks,” Gregory said.

Council Member Julia Springsteen said over 5,000 households in Hardin County depend on SNAP benefits.

“The announcement today was that they’ll only get partial funding for SNAP this month, so they’re already struggling,” Springsteen said. “They’re going to struggle a little bit more, in addition to the government workers who are going to pay, so hopefully this will help a few people in addition to the other efforts going on in the community.”

The city says no identification is needed. Residents in need can simply drive through the sports park parking lot beginning at noon on Friday and city employees will load the boxes into their cars. Participants should enter through the West Park Road entrance and exit onto Saint John Road.