Boston, MA, Sept. 14, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Rumphius Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to strengthening community, promoting education and protecting the environment, is proud to announce that it has more than doubled their number of grants this year. In a time of extraordinary need for non-profits, the Rumphius Foundation has awarded five grants to a group of diverse non-profit organizations. From a bus that delivers farm produce to communities without access, to nurturing at-risk adolescent girls through equine therapy, they all are investing in human potential and reconnecting people.
“My husband Mike taught us how to overcome any obstacle life throws at you,” said Rumphius Foundation Director Candace Schuller. “He always said ‘seize the day!’ And that is what these five organizations have done during a very challenging time. They found a way to reconnect people when people really needed connection, love and support. Their programs have redirected pathways and opened doors for brighter futures.”
The Rumphius Foundation is pleased to provide grants to the following non-profit organizations:
CORRAL provides adolescent girls in high-risk situations and their communities with skills, resources and opportunities so they can gain access to bright futures. They do this through a long-term, holistic program of equine therapy and education. Like the Rumphius mission, they seek to strengthen their community by planting seeds of hope and joy in meaningful ways to the girls who are referred to their organization. CORRAL serves approximately 70 girls per year, out of which 40 receive equine-assisted psychotherapy, educational support and skills to heal and succeed in life through CORRAL’s long-term program, the Riding Academy. The Rumphius grant supports their overall program to provide the girls with the confidence and care they need to break the harmful cycles that they are often in.
The Growcery Store Bus Project is designed to increase exposure to farm-to-table foods while providing education to communities that are typically excluded from consideration. Their mission is to "Connect Farmers To People & Reconnect People With Real Food." The products on the bus are sourced from disadvantaged farmers and small Black owned and operated businesses. The brightfully painted bus catches eyes and delivers fresh produce, herbs, spices and oils to enrich diets and strengthen immune systems. Funding received from the Rumphius Foundation is being used to purchase sustainable packaging, biodegradable trash bags and additional recycling bins for shoppers. Additionally, they have developed a socio-emotional learning-based labeling system to help people better understand what they are consuming. The grant will also be used to print those labels on biodegradable paper.
Guerrilla Gardeners of Washington D.C. improves neglected public spaces in underserved communities in our nation’s capital. They provide leadership, volunteer labor and supplies in collaboration with residents to create more attractive, usable and safer spaces for their neighborhoods. Their goal is to empower residents to maintain and build on these improvements. In 2020, Guerrilla Gardeners initiated the Potomac Triangle Parks Reclamation Project to improve the landscape of two neglected and underutilized public spaces in the heart of a high-crime public housing area. The gentrification of the surrounding neighborhood is exacerbating the inequity of living conditions. The project strives to provide a safe place where residents can come out from behind the fences surrounding their complex and be embraced by their neighbors. The Rumphius grant is supporting their intern program that recruits youth from the local community and can lead to enrollment in the University of the District of Columbia Master Gardener or Master Naturalist certification programs as career paths. In addition, Miss Rumphius is now one of the books read to children at events in the Potomac Triangle Parks garden and a copy is given to each child.
Root to Rise is a yoga & meditation based mentorship program for youth that helps break cycles of family trauma, poverty and substance-use. Participants are 14 to 21 years old who live in Turners Falls, Massachusetts and surrounding communities. The Rumphius Foundation funded their new garden project in 2020, which enabled the girls and volunteers to create a beautiful garden in a plot of land donated by a neighbor. The garden has been a sanctuary during the pandemic, allowing the girls to be distanced and outside, while also catching the attention of neighbors who have stopped by to visit and donate plants. The new garden plot is growing into a place filled with flowering trees, bushes and secret corners for the girls to find peace.
Sawhorse Revolution fosters confident, community-oriented students through the power of carpentry and craft. They organize teams of high school youth led by professional carpenters and architects to create needed community projects. The Rumphius grant is supporting the construction of a sustainable and student-designed tiny home which will be placed in a city-sanctioned homeless village in Seattle, Washington. The home features 80% recycled materials, selected by students from trips to local salvage yards. Once the tiny house is placed, it is estimated it can support up to 40 people over the next 10 years. This house will spark a seed of hope and joy for the people who live in it and for the students who build it, key goals for projects funded by the Rumphius Foundation.
The Rumphius Foundation makes grants annually and is currently seeking grant proposals for 2022. Grants are made for projects that conform to the mission of the foundation. Proposals for the next grant cycle must be received by January 15, 2022 through an online form. To make donations please visit www.rumphiusfoundation.org.
About The Rumphius Foundation
Established in 2013 by the late Michael C. Schuller, The Rumphius Foundation is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization providing support to communities and educators to strengthen the future of our youth and the environment. Named after the children’s book Miss Rumphius by Barbara Cooney, in which the central character seeks to make the world a little more beautiful, the foundation provides grants to non-profit projects that promote community, education and sustainability. Through these projects, the foundation strives to remind the next generation to leave the world more beautiful than they found it. For more information on The Rumphius Foundation, please visit www.rumphiusfoundation.org.
