The largest grant, $15,000, was awarded to the Ohio Challenge to sponsor the summer hot air balloon event held in Smith Park, Gordon said.
Gordon said the MCF has a policy against funding religious activities, and with parochial schools the board has classified anything that is primarily to benefit the school as religious activity, since it’s religious-based education.
Since these fields are used by so many community groups, the MCF looked at it as if it were a “public park,” Gordon said.
John XXIII Principal Dawn Pickerill said two select Middletown baseball teams, the Bombers and the Red Sox, and the Falcon Lacrosse Team, which isn’t affiliated with the school, use the baseball diamond and football field. She said other schools also are permitted to use the fields.
She said the wooden bleachers were built in 1972 and have been renovated several times since. But she said the bleachers are rotting and the steel beams need replaced. She one spectator fell through the bleachers two years ago.
Pickerill hopes to begin the renovations in November and have them completed by the spring, in time for lacrosse season. After that, once the funds are raised, work will begin on the baseball bleachers, she said.
The total estimated cost to replace the bleachers is $44,642, she said. Besides the $10,000 from the MCF, the school raised $10,000 and has applied for additional grants, including one from the Miriam G. Knoll Foundation.
Supports to Encourage Low-income Families (SELF) received $11,000 to purchase building supplies to be used in low-income family home repair mission workcamps next summer, Gordon said.
The Middletown Community Foundation awarded $8,500 to the Middletown Area Salvation Army to purchase a new walk-in freezer for its food pantry, he said.
— ——
GRANTS
The Middletown Community Foundation recently awarded $70,000 in grants:
- First United Methodist Church: $5,000 to sponsor the 2017 First Friday Concert Series
- Franklin Area Historical Society: $4,000 to repaint their museum exterior
- Holy Family Athletics: $10,000 to help replace deteriorated bleachers at public-used baseball and football fields at St. John XXIII School
- Keep Middletown Beautiful: $500 for creating geocaching treasure hunts in local parks
- Middletown Arts Center: $1,500 to assist with repairing handicapped-accessible entry way on front entrance sidewalk contingent upon the repairs meeting current code and $1,500 for scholarships for children in art classes
- Middletown City Schools: $2,000 to sponsor Stomp the Halls step show and college fair
- Ohio Challenge: $15,000 to sponsor the 2017 balloon festival
- Performing Arts Academy: $5,000 to replace lightboard and assist in lighting upgrades
- Salvation Army: $8,500 to buy a new walk-in freezer for food pantry
- SELF: $11,000 for building supplies to be used in low income family home repair mission workcamps
- SORG Opera House: $5,000 for sprinkler repairs
- Teen Mentoring Committee: $1,250 to repair donated bikes for local children
Source: Middletown Community Foundation
About the Author