Sewanee Community Chest Spotlight

The 2014–15 Sewanee Community Chest fund drive is underway. Since 1908, the Sewanee Community Chest has helped to serve its fellow community members and keep this community strong and vital. Sponsored by the Sewanee Civic Association, the Community Chest raises money for local charitable organizations that work to educate and nurture children, aid the community, and improve the quality of life. In setting the goal for the Community Chest, the Sewanee Civic Association board and membership approved funding for 27 organizations and initiatives in Sewanee and surrounding communities, assuming the goal is met. 

This year’s goal is $101,000; about $36,000 has been raised to date. This year’s fund drive organizers, Marilyn and Tom Phelps, hope to complete the campaign by February 2015.

For the next few weeks, the Sewanee Mountain Messenger will focus on some of the organizations supported by the Community Chest. This week we look at three of the organizations selected by the Community Chest: the Sewanee Community Center, the Sewanee Elementary School and the Animal Alliance-South Cumberland.

Sewanee Community Center. The purpose of the Sewanee Community Center is to improve the quality of life in the community by providing space for community-initiated programs and projects. These programs include the online farmer’s market and the food buyers’ co-op, yoga, tai chi, gymnastics, Cub Scouts and community meetings. The Community Center board also sponsors an annual community-wide yard sale. Each month approximately 600–800 people use the Center.

The Community Center is requesting $4,500 to be used for the general operating costs of keeping the Center open, including utilities, insurance, maintenance, a mower and the manager’s salary. The Sewanee Community Chest provides for 44 percent of the Center’s operating expenses. The rest of the Center’s funding comes from rent and other donations.

Sewanee Elementary School. The community has always helped to maintain the public school in Sewanee, from building the school in 1927, to providing financial support for enrichment programs and supplies.

Sewanee Elementary School (SES) relies on yearly funding from the Community Chest to meet the school’s needs. The Sewanee Parent Organization (SPO, formerly known as the Parent-Teacher Organization), a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, requests and disburses the Community Chest funds each year for SES. The SPO works with the SES teachers and staff to find solutions to specific educational needs of the school that are not met by the Franklin County School system’s funding or services. This includes professional development, technology purchases, library books and supplies for classrooms. The SPO supports 250 children and 30 faculty and staff members.

This year the SPO is requesting $20,000 on behalf of Sewanee Elementary. The Community Chest currently funds almost 90 percent of the SPO operating expenses for the school. The SPO also receives money through annual dues and small fund-raisers such as T-shirt sales. SES receives additional money from school pictures, two book fairs and the BoxTops program. 

Animal Alliance-South Cumberland. The mission of the Animal Alliance-South Cumberland (AASC) is to reduce the number of unwanted and abandoned dogs and cats in Grundy County and the areas of Marion and Franklin counties located on the South Cumberland Plateau by providing affordable and accessible spays and neuters. The group is committed to reducing the number of unintended litters, which can lead to neglect, cruelty and euthanasia. AASC also educates the public about the importance of animal sterilizations.

Since the program began in 2008, AASC has helped to spay and neuter more than 2,800 dogs and cats. The organization also funds the sterilization of strays before foster families rehome them. Last year, three of the volunteer foster homes took in 266 puppies and adult dogs. The organization helps to transport the animals to Wally’s Friends, Paul’s Clinic and Animal Care Center. They also work with Fido Fixers, which is a mobile clinic that periodically comes to the Plateau.

AASC is requesting $1,250, which will help to sterilize 25 dogs and/or cats. The pet owners are asked for a copayment of $14, which covers $12 for a rabies vaccination and a $2 fuel fee for the transport van. AASC pays for these charges if an owner cannot afford it. 

For low-income pet owners, AASC also pays for any other services deemed necessary by the veterinarian at the time of the surgery such as antibiotics, ear mite treatment, and pain and worm medications. The AASC is entirely volunteer-led. Its largest expense is paying for the spay and neuter program.

The goal of the Sewanee Community Chest is to help our community by funding our community programs. The Community Chest is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, and donations are tax-deductible. 

Send your donation to Sewanee Community Chest, P.O. Box 99, Sewanee, TN 37375. For more information, or to make a donation through PayPal, contact <sewaneecommunitychest@gmail.com> or go to <www.sewaneecivic.wordpress.com>.

South Cumberland Community Fund Awards Grants to Nine Groups

The South Cumberland Community Fund (SCCF) announced its latest grant recipients on Aug. 3 at the DuBose Conference Center in Monteagle. The grants, made to nine area nonprofit organizations, total nearly $64,000.

“One of the primary functions of the Community Fund is to support people and organizations who are making the South Cumberland Plateau a healthier, better-educated, and culturally richer place. We’re proud to honor these nine groups for the work they are doing and to support them in our fourth round of grants,” said Scott Parrish, SCCF board chair. “This, together with our investment of $60,000 in capacity-building initiatives, will mean a total investment in our community of nearly $125,000 by the Community Fund in 2014.”

The grant recipients and their programs for which they will receive funding are:

Animal Alliance-South Cumberland is a six-year old, all-volunteer spay/neuter program that works to reduce the cost and suffering of unwanted and abandoned dogs and cats on the Plateau. To date, the Alliance has sterilized more than 2,500 animals in the community. A prior grant from SCCF for the “Fix by Four” project enabled the Alliance to conduct an educational program advocating the sterilization of pets by the age of 4 months before their first litter and to subsidize the cost of spay/neuter procedures and rabies vaccinations for such pets owned by low-income residents of the community. This new grant of $3,600 for “The Big Fix” project targets medium to large breed dogs, the ones most likely to have large litters, create neighborhood problems, and suffer from abuse. With these funds, Animal Alliance will be able to help 50 low-income residents sterilize their large breed dogs. 

Appalachian Women’s Guild is a 25-year old grass-roots organization that provides “a hand up, not a handout” to help meet the basic needs of impoverished residents of our region. The organization aspires to do a significant upgrade to its aging facilities over the next few years. The immediate focus is the thrift shop, which generates the lion’s share of AWG’s income. This grant of $7,000 will refurbish and promote the store in order to provide a more appealing shopping experience and generate greater revenues for the programs offered by AWG.

The City of Altamont proposes to increase the utilization of the auditorium of the Florence Scruggs Building for theatrical, musical and dance performances. The City intends to develop a calendar of high quality events that will attract paying audiences. A snack bar will generate additional income to sustain the programs, some of which will feature professional/semi-professional artists. A grant from SCCF will enable the City to install a sound system in the facility. In addition, the Paul S. McConnell Music Grant, awarded to SCCF to support music on the plateau, will provide underwriting for performances by local musicians in the venue. The total amount of the grant is $6,725.

Coalmont Elementary School, in partnership with the Grundy Health Council and the University of the South, has focused in recent years on increasing exercise and physical activity in its after-school program. Now it is time to promote healthy physical activities for the entire school and surrounding community. Recognizing the limited availability of safe walking spaces in the area, the school proposes to construct a quarter-mile walking track around the adjacent ball field. This grant of $10,000 is directed toward the cost of installing the track; the project has also attracted the support of the Bristol Myers Foundation.

Community Action Committee is a ministry of the Otey Parish of Sewanee. It provides groceries for over three hundred families per week, plus assistance with utilities, medical, employment and housing needs. All clients are below the poverty level. This grant of $2,660, aimed at food security and sustainability, will enable CAC to provide chicken coops and starter flocks for two clients willing to maintain them for the benefit of themselves and their neighbors. In addition, ten container gardens will be provided to elderly and disabled residents.

Mountain Goat Trail Alliance is a rails-to-trails recreation project seeking to create a multi-use corridor along a 35-mile track from Cowan in Franklin County to Palmer in Grundy County. The first section of the trail, between Sewanee and St. Andrew’s-Sewanee School, is complete, and construction of the next section from SAS to Monteagle will begin this year. A previous grant from the fund is enabling MGTA to complete the acquisition of rail bed between Tracy City and Palmer. This new grant of $10,000 will support the purchase of additional rail bed between Monteagle and Tracy City, plus provide partial compensation for a contract employee to administer a Recreational Trails grant recently awarded by Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation. 

St. James Episcopal Church in Midway, with a grant from the Dandridge Trust, constructed a playground 20 years ago to serve the community. It is the only recreational space available to the children of this community. Today the playground equipment has deteriorated and fallen behind contemporary safety standards. This grant of $10,000 from the fund will enable the church to refurbish the playground with new swings, rubber mulch, basketball backboards and nets, and soccer goals, plus the addition of picnic tables. The church provides liability insurance and general maintenance of the playground.

Swiss Memorial Elementary School, serving the Gruetli-Laager community, has worked in partnership with the Grundy County Health Council, the school health program, and the school nutrition program to focus on strategies to combat chronic health conditions. With grant support and innovation funding, these partners have been able to build a greenhouse and a community garden to make healthy foods available for students, staff and the community. This SCCF grant of $3,760, made possible by a grant from the Bonnaroo Works Fund, will help pay for an after-school program that will provide training in many aspects of nutrition, such as planting and maintaining a garden, farmers’ markets, food preservation and vegetarian cooking.

The South Cumberland Learning and Development Center, operating under the auspices of Tracy City, is a bold undertaking to refurbish the old high school and make it available for lifelong learning programs for youth and adults that improve employment preparation, health and educational outcomes, and increase community connections by fostering collaboration and partnerships. This grant of $10,000 goes toward the local match required to access a $500,000 grant from the Appalachian Regional Commission for renovation of the building.