Newton Et Cetera Shop Grants Funds to Sixteen Local Groups
June 7, 2017
In May, the Newton Et Cetera Shop granted a combined total of $23,000 through their Local Giving Fund to sixteen nonprofit organizations in the Newton area. Since 2013, the Fund has granted a total of $97,000 to local nonprofits.
The organizations selected this year were Agape Resource Center, Alexanderwohl Mennonite Church, Bethesda Home, Harvey County Health Department, Heart to Heart Child Advocacy Center, Hesston Refugee Resettlement Committee, HOPE Home Repair, The Lord’s Pantry, New Hope Shelter, Peace Connections, Prairie View Inc, Revitalize Walton/Walton Historical Society, Safehope, Salvation Army, West Zion Mennonite Church, and Whitestone Mennonite Church.
Many of the groups receiving funds emphasized the critical role that grants and donations play in their programs. “The Local Giving Fund grant will be used to strengthen Peace Connections’ ability to educate, inform and recruit community members to identify and address the systemic barriers that keep families in poverty,” says Jennifer Rose, executive director of Peace Connections.
Pete Flaming, Development Director at Bethesda Home, says “Funding for this service is analogous to MCC’s purpose of ‘responding to basic human needs’ by caring for those who can no longer care for themselves through the distribution of nutritious meals, and affording them the opportunity to live life to the fullest.”
Newton Et Cetera Shop Board members feel the Local Giving Fund is one of the key ways the shop gives back to the community. “We appreciate the support that the Newton community gives through donations and retail sales,” says board president Jan Horst. “I am pleased that Newton Et Cetera Shop chooses to reciprocate and fund local organizations. This follows our mission of meeting human needs.”
The Newton Et Cetera Shop board designates its Local Giving Fund for organizations with legal nonprofit status operating out of Newton, North Newton, Hesston, Goessel, Moundridge, Whitewater, Elbing, Halstead, and Walton. Eligible groups are invited to watch facebook.com/NewtonEtc for announcements about the application process and deadlines for next year’s Local Giving Fund grants early in 2018.
The Et Cetera Shop, a community thrift store, began in 1976 with a mission to benefit the worldwide relief organization Mennonite Central Committee (MCC). MCC works to meet basic human needs by sending food or material goods, and funding projects in regions recovering from war and disasters. All items sold at Et Cetera Shop are donated used goods, and the majority of work is done by around 240 volunteers.
For more information, please contact the Newton Et Cetera Shop:
Sara Dick, General Manager
619 N. Main Street
Newton KS 67114
316-283-9461
https://www.facebook.com/NewtonEtc/