| Organization Name | Please tell us the amount of funding you are requesting Aware to raise for your organization from the Aware annual fundraising event. | If your organization received Aware funding in the previous years, how many clients were serviced and/or how many services were provided with those funds. If you receive Aware funding this current year, how many clients will be serviced and/or how many services will be provided with these funds? | Please provide a listing of the Officers and Board members of your organization. | First | Last |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wings of Hope Hospice & Palliative Care, Inc. | Wings of Hope requests $10,000 to help with providing services to terminally ill individuals in our communities. | Wings of Hope served 329 individuals and their loved ones in 2022. The funding received in 2022 was $5000 and it was used for medications, oxygen, medical equipment and supplies. | Dr. Theresa Lynn, Executive Director | BettyJo | Duquette |
| Fennville Pullman & the Lakeshore Rotary Club | $500 | These funds will be used towards the building of one life jacket station and the supplying of 20 (assorted sizes) life jackets for the Pier Cove Public Beach located in Ganges Township. This beach area is under renovation this spring through the middle of the summer. Once it is reopened, we think it will attract at least two hundred or more visitors to the area for the remainder of the season. When the weather changes, the station will be covered and the life jackets will be stored at a township facility until the next season. | President: Mike Mora (773)531-2916 mikemrotary@gmail.com ( until July 203) | Sharona | Shapiro |
| Kids' Food Basket | $2,000 | Last year, Kids’ Food Basket nourished approximately 1,100 children a day in Ottawa and Allegan counties. This year, Kids’ Food Basket anticipates maintaining this, continuing to nourish approximately 1,100 children daily. | Board of Directors: Ottawa/Allegan Advisory Board: | Haley | Rademacher |
| Wishbone Pet Rescue Alliance | 10,000.00 | In 2022, Wishbone Pet Rescue Alliance received a generous $10,000 donation from West Shore Aware to modify its technology platforms. As a result, we have purchased new computer hardware and software throughout the organization. These purchases enabled us to gain efficiencies for 12 staff, hundreds of donors, over 150 volunteers, and over 900 animals under our care. We have implemented all cloud-based software throughout Wishbone, including QuickBooks online for better accounting management & transparency, ADP for employee payroll processing, DonorPerfect for improved donor management (receipting and acknowledgment process), and Volunteer Local for volunteer management (scheduling and onboarding). If we receive funding this year, it will benefit the staff and volunteers as well as the 208 families receiving free pet food and supplies at our monthly Pet Food Pantries. | Jim Sellman, President; George Stoutin, Vice President; Renee Draves, Treasurer; Elaine Bosch, Secretary; and Directors Michael Bojko, Lise Cameron, Joy McClendon, and Ellen Rensklev. | Elaine | Bosch |
| Center for Dispute Resolution / DBA Mediation Services | We are requesting $4,500 from Aware to help with increased operating expenses associated with providing our service which promotes peace throughout Allegan County. | We have never applied for funding from Aware. Last year, we served 252 Allegan County residents both adults and children of all ages. We have been serving Allegan County for 30-years and while each year this number fluctuates, we serve on average between 200- 300 Allegan County residents each year. | Mediation Services Board of Directors 2023 Judy Graff (President,) Conrad Mutschler (Past President, 12/2020) Jolene Clearwater, J.D. David Carbajal, CPA Susan Klooz, M.A., J.D. (Past President, 12/2020 Mike Van Ast , (Treasurer 1/2023) William Brown Sharmila Rajani, J.D. Robert Nida Charles Elwood Alberto Serrano Jennell Challa | Penny | Shuff |
| Saugatuck Center for the Arts | $5,000 | The SCA received funding from AWARE in 2021 which helped underwrite digital programming for 1st-12th graders (during COVID). Our “SCA Now” segments were viewed by 1,865 students. If we receive AWARE funding this year for our Outreach Programming, we anticipate serving 250 1st - 12th grade students (at schools and via after school programs) plus 3,000 children, families, and adults at community events. Most of the students we will serve are from “priority populations” (i.e., at-risk, economically challenged, students of color, underserved communities). These students often don’t have access to important creative educational programming, nor do they have opportunities to meet professional creatives. | Chair John Armstrong is Senior Vice President of Global Digital Strategy and Design at Salesforce. He is a multi-disciplinary executive with 30 years of experience as an advisor to the C-Suite, and a leader of transformational change strategies and initiatives. An expert in designing interactive customer experiences across physical and digital channels to leverage Design Thinking, John is keenly focused on customer acquisition, growth and retention. Vice Chair Jeff Antaya is a digital marketing strategist and retired Partner and Chief Marketing Officer at Plante Moran. Jeff currently sits on the board of ACCESS, and previously served on the board of the Detroit Institute of Arts, Leadership Detroit, Center Galleries Advisory Board (College of Creative Studies) and is a founding member of Cabaret313. Treasurer Michael Gantt is the Chief Financial Officer at John Ball Zoo in Grand Rapids. Michael is responsible for the overall financial management and strategic direction of the Zoo. Prior to moving full-time to the Saugatuck/Douglas area, Michael spent the past 20 years managing finances and balancing budgets for several Chicago area not-for-profit institutions, including The Family Institute at Northwestern University and Lincoln Park Zoo. Secretary Ginny Brooks joined the Saugatuck Center of the Arts Board in 2018, having previously served on the Wharton Center for Performing Arts Board, and the Boarshead Theatre Board in Lansing while living there with her family. Her volunteer experience and interests have been focused on the performing and visual arts, endowments and fund development. Chair Emeritus Deb Minton is senior director of philanthropy and strategic initiatives for the Grand Rapids-based Phoenix Society for Burn Survivors. Deb oversees philanthropy, strategic initiatives and the expansion of the Phoenix Society's growing list of U.S. and global corporate partners in the health care, surgical, fire-protection, insurance and tissue-bank sectors. Catherine Blagdurn is a senior consultant at Steelcase, where she has held positions in sales and marketing. She is currently on the guest experience team, hosting clients from all major market segments which keeps her current on design and workplace research. Patrick Coyle currently serves as Artistic Director for the Holland Chorale, Chorus Master for Opera Grand Rapids, and the Director of Music for First (Park) Congregational Church (Grand Rapids). Patrick is also the Special Events Director for the Chamber Music Festival of Saugatuck. Roxanne Decyk is a retired international oil and gas executive and active independent director of NYSE companies and not-for-profit organizations. Before retirement, she led a portfolio of global functions for Royal Dutch Shell and served on Shell’s executive committee. She currently chairs the Governance and Nominating Committee of Maxar (a space technology company). is Chair Emeritus of the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum and Vice Chair of Sinai Health Systems. Dr. Stelios Dokianakis is a full time Saugatuck resident and the owner of Holland Doctors of Audiology. With degrees in Engineering as well as Audiology, his professional interests are in the areas of tinnitus, sound sensitivities and high-frequency hearing loss technology. He serves on the State of Michigan Board of Audiology and is an officer of the American Tinnitus Association’s Board of Directors. He is passionate about animal rescue, and helping small nonprofits succeed. Jim Hundrieser is senior vice president for consulting and business development for NACUBO. This national organization serves college and university finance officers. Jim oversees the consulting practice, builds relationships with sponsors to support NACUBO’s work, and leads a grant focused on ways institutions can strategically finance equitable student outcomes to increase completion rates of students who have historically been underserved. Jim previously served as vice president for enrollment management and student affairs at three universities. Matt Jackson is Managing Director/Partner at Lambert Edwards. He has a successful track record in public relations, earned media campaigns, cause marketing, social media activations, event promotions, advertising and brand positioning. Matt’s work includes successful product launches on behalf of brands including Chiquita®, Old Orchard Brands, Jamba®, Moose Tracks® ice cream, T.G.I. Friday’s snacks™, Seattle’s Best Coffee®, Vidalia Brands™ and others. Carol Josefowicz has been active with various nonprofit organizations for more than 30 years both in Illinois and Michigan. She served as Board Chair for the Elmhurst Educational Foundation, Buttons and Bows Nursery School, and the Elmhurst Symphony. Carol was elected as an Alderman to the Elmhurst City Council from 1989-97. For the past 10 years, she has worked with the Fennville Elementary School on Battle of the Books, a literacy program, for 4th and 5th graders. She is also the current Chair of the Zoning Board of Appeals for Ganges Township. Travis Randolph is the retired founder of Symbiote, located in Zeeland, Michigan. Randolph began his career with Herman Miller on the team that launched the original modular system for healthcare. At Symbiote he and his team design lab furniture for the Life Science, Tech Labs and Aerospace markets. Jim Sellman holds a Real Estate Broker license and was formerly a Registered Social Worker in Michigan. Currently Jim serves on the Board of Children’s First Lakeshore and 4 Paws Lakeshore and a Grant Committee Member for the Allegan County Community Foundation. Brian Stephens retired from KPMG after a 39-year career within the financial services audit practice that serves global and domestic clients world-wide. He was the National Leader of KPMG’s US Financial Services Practice and also led its US Banking and Capital Markets Practice. During his career he served as lead partner for clients such as The World Bank, HSBC, Bank One, and Mellon Bank. Brian continues to provide client related services to the KPMG firm in Singapore and Spain. Lisa Wylie is Chief Marketing Officer for The River & Odi Hospitality Group. She has spent her career in a variety of positions within the Marketing, Culinary and Commercial Interior Design markets. Special Events and Fundraising has been Lisa’s passion; she has volunteered her time on various non-profit boards of Arts, Science, Education and Advertising in both Michigan and Indiana. Michael Van Meter is Managing Partner of Van Meter Associates, an Iowa-based investment advisory offering individual portfolio management services to individuals and small to midmarket institutional clients. | Kristin | Armstrong |
| Resilience: Advocates for Ending Violence | Resilience: Advocates for Ending Violence is requesting $10,000 to support our emergency intervention services for victims and survivors of domestic and sexual violence. | In fiscal year 2022, Resilience: Advocates for Ending Violence responded to 3,453 calls for assistance on our 24 hour helpline; we provided face-to-face crisis intervention, advocacy and emotional support to 404 emergency walk-in clients; safe shelter as well as meals, advocacy and emotional support were provided to 57 adults and their 70 children; our team of specially trained, on-call nurses provided 61 confidential and discreet forensic exams where evidence was carefully collected and stored. Nurses worked closely with local law enforcement and testified in court for sexual assault cases when needed. We anticipate responding to more than 2,500 requests for assistance through these programs in the upcoming year. | Sandra Trammell, President | Teresa | Schraudt |
| Arbor Circle | $10,000 | When paired with existing funds, last year’s dollars helped us support the 70 children served through our Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) programming with an optimal level of care and resources, ensuring continuation of current CASA volunteers and our ability to onboard new ones. | • Mark Nettleton, Chair – Mika Meyers PLC | Taylor | Greenfield |
| Chamber Music Festival of Saugatuck | We are requesting a grant of $2000 from West Shore Aware to partially fund our music educational programs which include three Young Listener programs for underserved grade school students, three Master Class sessions, a music poster art contest at Saugatuck High School, and the JCYAP Internship Program for two or three college students to assist with running our programs, meet our artists, and learn the behind-the-scenes activities necessary to run a chamber music program. | CMFS received an Aware grant of $2000 in 2012 to complete funding of the Joan Conway Young Artists Program endowment. CMFS has received AWARE grant of $1700 in 2022, $2000 in 2016, 2020, & 2021, and $1000 in 2018 and 2019 to partially fund our educational programs. Number of services and use of funds are described above. | President: Lynette C. Fall | Doug | Walvoord |
| Al-Van Humane Society | $3000 | We have been granted money from West Shore Aware in recent years to go towards our general funding. This has allowed us to continue with our purpose of helping homeless pets finding their new home, educating the public and subsidizing payment for veterinary services for the public. | Kathy Korse (Co-President), Grace Gilmore (Co-President), Jo Ann Ploen (Vice President), Gwen Hinz (Secretary), Ellen Liehr (Treasurer), Bradley Borowiec, Jodi Clock, John Nappo, Cathy Novak, Shirley McKee, Renee Rush, Suzy Swanson | Maria | Hampton |
| Safe Harbor Children's Advocacy Center | $10,000 | Number of Clients served: 2023 – We anticipate the following numbers based on the number served during the first quarter of 2023 | Officers | Lori | Antkoviak |
| Saugatuck-Douglas History Center | $3,500 | The SDHC received funding for the Century of Progress exhibit in 2021. More than 2,500 individuals have viewed the exhibit to date. We anticipate a broader impact across the region with the Community Stories project. | Randy DiRosa - Saugatuck | Eric | Gollannek |
| Community Pride MI | $10,000, please. | We have never applied for West Shore Aware funding. We expect to bring 3000 people to the community for the events June 1-4, 2023. | Elizabeth Engel, President. | Elizabeth | Engel |
| Ruth Crowe - The Journal Project Road Trip | $10,000 | Ruth Crowe | Ruth | Crowe | |
| Testing | Test | Test | Test | Ian | Mills |
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| Allegan County Community Foundation - PRIDE Fund | $15,000.00 $7,500 toward fund endowment | Number of clients to-be served and/or number of services to-be offered are difficult to estimate and would depend on the grant(s) awarded to Allegan County non-profits serving LGBTQIA+ friends and neighbors. If, for example, we fund a free mental health program of Allegan County youth, our goal could be to serve 50+ LGBTQIA+ youth. If we fund a county-wide conference for elder service providers on the critical need of providing safe and affirming elder care spaces, we could serve 100's of community members. | Ricardo Bazan - Board Chair | Sara | Ruiter |
| Wishbone Pet Rescue Alliance | $10,000.00 | Joy McClendon, President; George Stoutin, Vice President; Gary Workman, Secretary; Elaine Bosch, Treasurer; Scot Reynolds, Director; Lise Cameron, Director; Karen Pieper, Director; Mike Usher, Director | Elaine | Bosch | |
| Saugatuck Center for the Arts | $5,000 | In 2023 we received $5,000 from AWARE in support of Year 1 outreach programming (HUGE thanks for this!). We served: 650 K-12th graders via "in classroom" outreach, and served ~ 2,000 families via outreach at community events. This year we anticipate serving about 600 middle + high school students via "in classroom" outreach this summer and fall. We plan to serve ~ 2,500 families through outreach at community events in Fennville, Saugatuck, and Holland. | Chair John Armstrong is Senior Vice President of Global Digital Strategy and Design at Salesforce. He is a multi-disciplinary executive with 30 years of experience as an advisor to the C-Suite, and a leader of transformational change strategies and initiatives. An expert in designing interactive customer experiences across physical and digital channels to leverage Design Thinking, John is keenly focused on customer acquisition, growth and retention. Treasurer Michael Gantt is the Chief Operating Officer at the Phoenix Society for Burn Survivors. Prior to moving full-time to the Saugatuck/Douglas area, Michael spent the past 20 years managing finances and balancing budgets for several Chicago area not-for-profit institutions, including The Family Institute at Northwestern University and Lincoln Park Zoo. Secretary Ginny Brooks joined the Saugatuck Center of the Arts Board in 2018, having previously served on the Wharton Center for Performing Arts Board, and the Boarshead Theatre Board in Lansing while living there with her family. Her volunteer experience and interests have been focused on the performing and visual arts, endowments and fund development. Chair Emeritus Deb Minton is senior director of philanthropy and strategic initiatives for the Grand Rapids-based Phoenix Society for Burn Survivors. Deb oversees philanthropy, strategic initiatives and the expansion of the Phoenix Society's growing list of U.S. and global corporate partners in the health care, surgical, fire-protection, insurance and tissue-bank sectors. Catherine Blagdurn is a senior consultant at Steelcase, where she has held positions in sales and marketing. She is currently on the guest experience team, hosting clients from all major market segments which keeps her current on design and workplace research. Patrick Coyle currently serves as Artistic Director for the Holland Chorale, Chorus Master for Opera Grand Rapids, and the Director of Music for First (Park) Congregational Church (Grand Rapids). Patrick is also the Special Events Director for the Chamber Music Festival of Saugatuck. Roxanne Decyk is a retired international oil and gas executive and active independent director of NYSE companies and not-for-profit organizations. Before retirement, she led a portfolio of global functions for Royal Dutch Shell and served on Shell’s executive committee. She currently chairs the Governance and Nominating Committee of Maxar (a space technology company). is Chair Emeritus of the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum and Vice Chair of Sinai Health Systems. Jim Hundrieser is recently retired as senior vice president for consulting and business development for NACUBO. The national organization serves college and university finance officers; Jim oversaw the consulting practice and built relationships with sponsors to support NACUBO’s work. Jim previously served as vice president for enrollment management and student affairs at three universities. Matt Jackson is Managing Director/Partner at Lambert Edwards. He has a successful track record in public relations, earned media campaigns, cause marketing, social media activations, event promotions, advertising and brand positioning. Matt’s work includes successful product launches on behalf of brands including Chiquita®, Old Orchard Brands, Jamba®, Moose Tracks® ice cream, T.G.I. Friday’s snacks™, Seattle’s Best Coffee®, Vidalia Brands™ and others. Carol Josefowicz has been active with various nonprofit organizations for more than 30 years both in Illinois and Michigan. She served as Board Chair for the Elmhurst Educational Foundation, Buttons and Bows Nursery School, and the Elmhurst Symphony. Carol was elected as an Alderman to the Elmhurst City Council from 1989-97. For the past 10 years, she has worked with the Fennville Elementary School on Battle of the Books, a literacy program, for 4th and 5th graders. She is also the current Chair of the Zoning Board of Appeals for Ganges Township. Travis Randolph is the retired founder of Symbiote, located in Zeeland, Michigan. Randolph began his career with Herman Miller on the team that launched the original modular system for healthcare. At Symbiote he and his team design lab furniture for the Life Science, Tech Labs and Aerospace markets. Jim Sellman holds a Real Estate Broker license and was formerly a Registered Social Worker in Michigan. Currently Jim serves on the Board of Children’s First Lakeshore and 4 Paws Lakeshore and a Grant Committee Member for the Allegan County Community Foundation. Brian Stephens retired from KPMG after a 39-year career within the financial services audit practice that serves global and domestic clients world-wide. He was the National Leader of KPMG’s US Financial Services Practice and also led its US Banking and Capital Markets Practice. During his career he served as lead partner for clients such as The World Bank, HSBC, Bank One, and Mellon Bank. Brian continues to provide client related services to the KPMG firm in Singapore and Spain. Lisa Wylie has spent her career in a variety of positions within the Marketing, Culinary and Commercial Interior Design markets. Special Events and Fundraising has been Lisa’s passion; she has volunteered her time on various non-profit boards of Arts, Science, Education and Advertising in both Michigan and Indiana. Michael Van Meter is Managing Partner of Van Meter Associates, an Iowa-based investment advisory offering individual portfolio management services to individuals and small to mid market institutional clients. | Kristin | Armstrong |
| The Journal Project Road Trip by artist Ruth Crowe | $5000.00 | Ruth Crowe | Ruth | Crowe | |
| Center for Dispute Resolution/DBA Mediation Services | Mediation Services is requesting $5,000 from AWARE to support our efforts to recruit, train and retain diverse volunteer mediators with the goal of insuring that everyone in our community, no matter who they are, feels comfortable using our services. This support will also help us keep fees accessible to everyone, especially clients who financially are part of the ALICE population. People in our community who are part of the ALICE population find that their wages earned allow no room for emergency or extras. This funding will also allow us to continue to waive fees for clients who are receiving state assistance or disability. | We are grateful to have been awarded our first grant from AWARE in 2023. Your generous gift of $4,500 helped us serve a total of 699 Allegan County residents last year. Mediation Services accepted a total of 177 cases from Allegan County in 2023. We know our work causes a ripple effect in communities. When conflict is resolved peacefully, everyone in the community benefits. We project serving 700 Allegan residents in 2024. In fact, our current case load is running higher since making administrative adjustments after the pandemic. Your support for our work helped us waive $8,525 in fees last year for clients who could not afford our service and supported our efforts to maintain affordable and accessible services compared to the cost of private mediation. Your generosity made access to our life changing service a reality for many Allegan County residents. | Mediation Services Board of Directors 2024 Robert Nida (Interim President) Judy Graff (President) Conrad Mutschler (Past President, 12/2020) Mike Van Ast, (Treasurer) Jolene Clearwater, J.D. Susan Klooz, M.A., J.D. (Past President) William Brown Sharmila Rajani, J.D. Charles Elwood Alberto Serrano Jennell Challa Casey Marietta | Penny | Shuff |
| The Arc of Allegan County | $10,000 | 24 employees, their families, and our community | Mary Beth Ramm - President | Roger | Bird |
| Chamber Music Festival of Saugatuck, Inc. | We are requesting a grant of $2000 from West Shore Aware to partially fund our music educational programs for 2024. We will offer Young Listener Concerts during the summer and in local grade schools reaching underserved students and others. Coaching sessions will be held for advanced high school wind and string students, and a string quartet will perform Bizet's "Ferdinand the Bull" in local grade schools. A student art contest at Saugatuck High school to create a poster for our 2024 publicity has already been held. We will again have our Internship Program for two or three college students who will assist with running our programs, interact with our artists, and learn the behind-the-scenes activities of a chamber music program. | CMFS received an AWARE grant of $2000 in 2012 to complete funding of the Joan Conway Young Artists Program endowment. Since then CMFS has received AWARE grants of $1700 in 2022, $2000 in 2016, 2020, 2021, and 2023 and $1000 in 2018 and 2019 to partially fund our educational programs. Number of services and use of funds are described below. | President: Joe O'Hara | Doug | Walvoord |
| Children First on the Lakeshore | $10,000.00 | We provide approximately 10,000 meals per year to children affected by hunger. | Glen McNeil, George Stoutin, Joseph Blodgett, Sharon Shanahan, Janet Schmidt, Jim Sellman, Lois Tuttle | Joseph | Blodgett |
| Arbor Circle | $10,000 | Last year, Arbor Circle received a grant of $10,000. These funds supported and sustained counseling/therapy services for youth working with and staying at The Bridge, bolstering staffing resources specific to these services while providing an initial connection to engage these young people with the potential for long-term support when needed. The Bridge, located in Grand Rapids, Michigan, serves youth in both Kent and Ottawa counties. When paired with other funding support, this grant helped Arbor Circle 60 youth thus far this year. This year, Arbor Circle respectfully requests funds to serve youth/young adults seeking supportive housing solutions while removing barriers disproportionately impacting LGBTQIA+ youth and youth of color. By giving youth direct financial and rental assistance, this project seeks to prevent, solve or resolve episodes of homelessness. Services provided will include, but are not limited to: assistance addressing or clearing criminal backgrounds, connection to education/training resources (including financial assistance), connection to employment, and connection to community activities and groups. | Mark Nettleton - Chair | Taylor | Greenfield |
| Boys and Girls Club at Saugatuck - Douglas | It costs approx $125,000.00 annually to run the 3-6PM After School and all day Summer Programs at Douglas Elementery Schools. Raising more money will allow us to expand to the Middle School and High School which is a strategic goal since the elementary school programs have been so incredibly successful with nearly 200 youth signed up and daily attendence numbers exceeding 100. We humbly request $14,000.00 to help fund this vital work in our community. | -100 youth per day will be served from 3-6PM M-Th (expanding to Fridays soon). | Jim Sullivan-President of Rotary (Rotary raises all funds for the B&GC@SD) | Jim | Sullivan |
| Friends of the Blue Star Trail | $7500 | Have not previously requested funding | Clark Carmichael, President | Kevin | Martin |
| SAFE HARBOR CHILDRENS ADVOCACY CENTER | $10,000 | 231 children participated in a fact-finding child friendly forensic interview. | Officers | Lori | Antkoviak |
| Wings Home | $10,000 | Wings Home received $4,200 in 2021 ($2,500 in January and $1,700 in November). This provided a total of 8 days of care for 4 individuals, a value of $8,000 to $12,800. | Mallory Smith Rimkus, President | Theresa | Lynn |
| Lakeshore Community Chorus | Music acquisition $2,000 | We have not received funding from AWARE in the past. Our key programs, and member preference based on a January 2024 LCC survey, include: | Shirley Sutton, President | Shirley | Sutton |
| Saugatuck-Douglas District Library | $2000.00 | The Library last received a West Shore Aware grant in 2021. The money was initially requested for in-person programs to be held in our new facility in its inaugural year. Because of the pandemic shut-down, we revised our plans. Instead, we hosted a community art project that ran through the sprint and summer of 2021. Members of the community submitted selfie portraits which were professionally printed, mounted and displayed in the library building. In addition to the display, we hosted a virtual instructional session and an opening reception. Because the portraits were so prominently displayed throughout the building, every person who entered the Library had a chance to view the artwork. Although it is impossible to get an exact count of unique visitors, we can safely estimate at least 3000 people each month. | Ingrid Boyer, Director | Ingrid | Boyer |
| Fellinlove Farm | $10,000 | Upwards of 13,000 guests will benefit from Fellinlove Farm's tours and adaptive field trips. | Cheryl Kaletka - Chairman •Secretary/Treasurer - Susan Hardman, Holland, MI | Cheryl | Kaletka |
| Renew Therapeutic Riding Center | $3,000 | In the past, funding has been 100% applied as scholarship funds to provide services to those who could not afford the already-reduced tuition. The last gift of $1,000 provided 10 children with the opportunity to take part in accredited, professional, therapeutic riding lessons at our facility. If awarded funding this year, this amount will expand to 30 children and adults. | Rob Housman, President ~ Harbor Churches, Byron Center, MI | Melissa | Conner |
| Al-Van Humane Society Inc. | We are requesting $8,600. | 2. We have received Aware funding in previous years. In other years, we did not receive any grant monies, however West Shore has generously provided us with monies which has gone towards our general operating costs. For example, we did not receive a grant in 2023 but West Shore Aware did donate $3,000 which was used for general operating costs. If we receive funding this year, we would be able to impact approximately 200 cats and the people who adopt them. | Co-President - Kathy Korse | Maria | Hampton |
| Community Pride, MI | $10,000 | Community Pride, MI hosted two events in 2023, and similarly, is preparing to host the same two events for 2024. The first being our PRIDE weekend festivities; the second being Oktoberfest. Attendance at both events in 2023 exceeded expectations: PRIDE events attendance reached ~ 3,000 across multiple days; Oktoberfest weekend attendance reached ~1,100. Our stretch goal is to increase attendance in 2024 by 50%. | Liz Engel, President | Troy | Weiland |
| Resilience: Advocates for Ending Violence | Resilience: Advocates for Ending Violence is requesting $10,000 to support our emergency intervention services for victims and survivors of domestic and sexual violence. | Resilience did not receive an award in the fiscal year 2023, but we would like to share these statistics from that period. In FY2023, Resilience: Advocates for Ending Violence responded to 3,463 calls for assistance on our 24 hour helpline; we provided face-to-face crisis intervention, advocacy and emotional support to 464 emergency walk-in clients; safe shelter as well as meals, advocacy and emotional support were provided to 56 adults and their 87 children; our team of specially trained, on-call nurses provided 66 confidential and discreet forensic exams where evidence was carefully collected and stored. Nurses worked closely with local law enforcement and testified in court for sexual assault cases when needed. | Ortencia Bos, President | Teresa | Schraudt |
| Grand Rapids Trans Foundation | $10,000 | The Grand Rapids Trans Foundation (GRTF) will extend guidance, advocacy, and financial assistance to 300 Transgender residents seeking legal name change and document updates in Kent County, Michigan. | Liam Bailey, President, They/Them (University of Michigan) | Ximón | Kittok |
| Saugatuck-Douglas History Center | $10,000 | The Saugatuck-Douglas History Center received $3,500 in funding from West Shore Aware in September of 2023. We were able to use those funds to support programs and activities that reached over 1,500 attendees since that time. Additional funding for 2024 will allow us to increase the quality and reach of history programming celebrating the Lakeshore lifestyle. | Bill Hess | Eric | Gollannek |
| City of Fennville DDA/Fennville Women's Club | $500 | N/a | DDA Board: Tom Pantelleria, Claude Rummer, Gary Krier, Dawn Soltysiak, Nathan Green, Jody Martin, Jontae Yost, Andrew Schrock, Mark Schrock | Katie | Beemer |
| Out On The Lakeshore | $10,000 | Out On The Lakeshore (OOTL) received Aware funding in 2016/2017. This funding was used as start up money for the OOTL LGBTQ+ Community Center. With this funding OOTL opened a center in Holland serving the wider lakeshore community that services hundreds of people through year round programming and thousands of individuals through major events. In 2023 alone OOTL served approximately 6,000 individuals at the PRIDE Festival in Holland and 300 individuals through year-round support groups, recreational programs, and case management services. | CY 2024 OOTL Board of Directors Name, Board Title, Affiliation Penny Jansen, Board Chair, SpartanNash | Kate | Leighton-Colburn |
| Kids’ Food Basket | $10,000 | Last year, Kids’ Food Basket nourished approximately 1,100 children each weekday in Ottawa and Allegan counties. This year, Kids’ Food Basket anticipates maintaining this, continuing to nourish approximately 1,100 children daily. | Board of Directors: | Haley | Rademacher |
| South Haven Center for the Arts | $5000 | The South Haven Center for the Arts is very grateful to have received funding from West Shore Aware in previous years: $1,000 in 2019, $2,500.00 in 2020, $1,700.00 in 2021, and $500 in 2022. Each year this funding was used to provide free art programming to members of our community | President Jennifer Sistrunk Kendra Kingsbury | Kerry | Hagy |
| Out On The Lakeshore | 10,000 | We are incredibly grateful for the funding support we received, which has already made a transformational impact on our community. This funding allowed us to enhance the safety, accessibility, and inclusivity of our community center, creating a more welcoming space for LGBTQ+ individuals. Over 100 people have directly benefited from these improvements. | Larry Jackson | Jennifer | Evans |
| Ladders of Hope USA, Inc. | $2,500 | Grant funds will be used in supporting the 187 families we service on a monthly basics. During 2024 the Food Pantry serviced 2249 families, of that 2248 children ages 1- 17, 3588 Adults, 1208 seniors that includes 152 Veterans for a total of 7044 persons. | President – Caroln Murray | Harry | Adams |
| Safe Harbor Children's Advocacy Center | $10,000 | In 2024, Safe Harbor provided the following services for children in Allegan County: | Officers | Lori | Antkoviak |
| MiPOTS Network | We are open to any funding amount. | Depending on the amount received, we can help up to 10 families per quarter with their needs. We attempt to offset $250 to $1000 dollars of expense for the families that apply for assistance. | President Michelle Brown | Michelle | Brown |
| Chamber Music Festival of Saugatuck, Inc. | We are requesting a grant of $2000 from West Shore Aware to partially fund our music educational programs for 2025. We will offer Young Listener Concerts during the summer and in local grade schools reaching underserved students and others. Coaching sessions will be held for advanced high school wind and string students, and a string quartet will perform Bizet's "Ferdinand the Bull" in local grade schools. A student art contest at Saugatuck High School to create a poster for our 2025 publicity has already been held. We will again have our Internship Program for two college students who will assist with running our programs, interact with our artists, and learn the behind-the-scenes activities of a chamber music program. | CMFS received an AWARE grant of $2000 in 2012 to complete funding of the Joan Conway Young Artists Program endowment. Since then CMFS has received AWARE grants of $1700 in 2022, $2000 in 2016, 2020, 2021, and 2023, and $1000 in 2018 and 2019 to partially fund our educational programs. Number of services and use of funds are described below. | President: Joe O'Hara | Doug | Walvoord |
| Resilience: Advocates for Ending Violence | Resilience: Advocates for Ending Violence is requesting $10,000 to support our emergency intervention services for victims and survivors of domestic and sexual violence. | Resilience did not receive an award in the fiscal year 2023 or 2024, but we would like to share these statistics. In FY2024, Resilience: Advocates for Ending Violence responded to 2,278 calls for assistance on our 24 hour helpline; we provided face-to-face crisis intervention, advocacy and emotional support to 335 emergency walk-in clients; safe shelter as well as meals, advocacy and emotional support were provided to 46 adults and their 51 children; our team of specially trained, on-call nurses provided 62 confidential and discreet forensic exams where evidence was carefully collected and stored. Nurses worked closely with local law enforcement and testified in court for sexual assault cases when needed. We anticipate responding to more than 2,500 requests for assistance through these programs in the upcoming year. | Ortencia Bos, President | Teresa | Schraudt |
| WISHBONE PET RESCUE ALLIANCE, INC. | $5000 | In 2022, Wishbone Pet Rescue Alliance received $4,500 from Westshore Aware for the purchase of software and computers to help the organization with the execution of day to day operations. | Scot Reynolds, Board President | Elaine | Bosch |
| Interurban Transit Authority | Interurban is requesting any amount up to $10,000 | Our rider fare is $.50 - $1:00 per ride any dollar amount will provide rides for our underserved community. | Chuck Gustafson / Tarue Pullen Chairperson / Kathy Johnson Vice Chairperson / Gregory Muncey Treasurer / Lori Babinski Secretary / Judith Schneider | Becky | Carten-Crandell |
| Arbor Circle | $10,000 | In 2023, Arbor Circle received a grant of $10,000. These funds supported and sustained counseling/therapy services for youth working with and staying at The Bridge, bolstering staffing resources specific to these services while providing an initial connection to engage these young people with the potential for long-term support when needed. The Bridge, located in Grand Rapids, Michigan, serves youth in both Kent and Ottawa counties. When paired with other funding resources, these funds supported Arbor Circle in serving over 50 youth. | Board Members: Judy Freeman (Chair), Dr. B. Donta Truss (Vice Chair), Pujita Sieplinga (Secretary), Matthew Boggiano (Treasurer), Mark Nettleton (Member at Large), Dr. Patricia Farrell-Cole, Regina Hill, Sonya Hughes, Sue Mason, Mandice McAllister, Carlos Pava, Melina Sinigos, Elliot Talen, Gwen Thomas | Taylor | Greenfield |
| FELLINLOVE FARM | $20,000 | In 2024, Fellinlove Farm received a generous $10,000 grant from West Shore Aware. This funding significantly bolstered our capacity to offer adaptive field trips, senior assisted living tours, inclusive Young Fellinlove Farmers program and individualized volunteer opportunities, benefiting upwards of 12,000 guests of all ages and abilities. | Cheryl Kaletka, Holland, MI - Chairman/Treasurer | Cheryl | Kaletka |
| Wings Home | $10,000 | Wings Home received $4,200 in 2021 ($2,500 in January and $1,700 in November). This provided 32 days of care, free of charge, for patients in their last weeks or days of life. | Mallory Smith Rimkus, President | Amy | Chestnut |
| Allegan County Community Foundation | $15,000 | The West Shore Aware’s generous donation of $15,000 to the Pride Fund made possible grants administered by the ACCF. See the 2024 Grant report data. The ACCF has proudly administered the WSA Scholarships since 2013. | Ricardo Bazan - Board Chair | Vicki | Knuckles |
| OutCenter Southwest Michigan | $10,000 | OutCenter has received the following awards from West Shore Aware: - $9,800 for general operating support in 2015 Based on our current estimates for this upcoming year of funding, we estimate the following services will be provided: - # of policies or practices created, changed, or promoted: 80 | John Royse, Board Chair | Willow | Sipling |
| The Lakeshore Community Chorus | $5,000 | We have not previously received an AWARE grant. | David Lincoln, President | Kathleen | Piggins |
| Sylvia's Place | $7,500 | Last year, Sylvia's Place assisted 2,161 callers via our 24/7 hotline. 470 of those callers seeking immediate shelter services. Our shelter facility provided 2,358 safe bednights to 95 victims of domestic violence that made the hard decision to flee an abuser. An additional 122 clients were provided non-residential services from our Victim Legal Advocate. Your support would offer services to just as many, or more victims of domestic violence. Our services are available 24/7 to those enduring abuse. | Ryan Sabatke, President | Heather | Forrest |
| Red Horse Center for Collaborative Leadership | 10,000 | n/a | Fred Bueltmann - Fennville, MI - President and Co-founder of Red Horse Center, Fred is an advocate for human-horse collaboration. With over 20 years of experience in both the equine world and the beverage industry, Fred brings a unique perspective on intentional company culture and leadership. His journey includes TEDx talks, published books, and a passion for fostering growth through equine-assisted organizational development. Ulla Frederiksen, MA., LLP - Fennville, MI - Board Member - Ulla is a psychologist, group facilitator, teacher, and artist. Co-founder of Red Horse Center, she specializes in client-centered, solution-oriented, oriented & trauma-informed therapy for Highly Sensitive People. She strives to create a safe, fun, and non-judgmental space for insight and healing to take place. Ulla has facilitated with horses since 2002 and has trained facilitators internationally since 2010. Jenny Atlee - Fennville, MI - Jenny has worked in Central America since 1984 in the areas of human rights, trauma and recovery, and international policy. She is the author of Red Thread: A Spiritual Journal of Accompaniment, Trauma and Healing, which chronicles her experiences in the war zones of Nicaragua during the U.S.-sponsored Contra War. She has worked with the herd at Red Horse Center since 2017. Tom Loudon - Fennville, MI - Tom worked in Central America for over thirty years in the areas of human rights, sustainable development, and international policy. He served on the Commission of Truth in Honduras following the 2009 coup. Tom has recently retired from the Migrant Workers program for the state of Michigan. He serves on the Board of Directors of the Nicaragua – United States Friendship Office Rotary Fennville, Pullman and the Lakeshore, and Red Horse Center | Fred | Bueltmann |
| Community Pride MI | $10,000 | Community Pride MI hosted two events in 2023 (when we received Aware funding) and 2024 (when we did not receive Aware funding), and similarly, is preparing to host the same two events for 2025. | Liz Engel, President | Mike | Wright |
| West Michigan Regional Veterans' Treatment Court | $2,500 | This is the first time that the court is requesting funding assistance. | Judge William A. Baillargeon is the presiding judge of the WMRVTC. | William | Baillargeon |
| Red Horse Center for Collaborative Leadership (2nd Entry - use this one!) | $10,000 | N/A | Fred Bueltmann - Fennville, MI - Executive Director and Co-founder of Red Horse Center, Fred advocates human-horse collaboration. With over 20 years of experience in equine and beverage industries, Fred brings a unique perspective on intentional company culture and leadership. His journey includes TEDx talks, published books, and a passion for fostering growth through equine-assisted organizational development. Ulla Frederiksen, MA., LLP - Fennville, MI - Ulla is a psychologist, group facilitator, teacher, and artist. Co-founder of Red Horse Center, she specializes in client-centered, solution-oriented, oriented & trauma-informed therapy for Highly Sensitive People. She strives to create a safe, fun, and non-judgmental space for insight and healing to take place. Ulla has facilitated with horses since 2002 and has trained facilitators internationally since 2010. Jenny Atlee - Fennville, MI - Jenny has worked in Central America since 1984 in the areas of human rights, trauma and recovery, and international policy. She is the author of Red Thread: A Spiritual Journal of Accompaniment, Trauma and Healing, which chronicles her experiences in the war zones of Nicaragua during the U.S.-sponsored Contra War. She has worked with the herd at Red Horse Center since 2017. Abena O. Apea - Chicago, IL - Abena is a transformative leader with over 30 years of experience serving nonprofit and higher education organizations. Abena earned a certificate in Leading Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion from Northwestern University; she is a member of the 2014 Management and Leadership in Education Cohort at Harvard University’s Graduate School of Education. Abena is a board member at Chicago Fair Trade and the Red Horse Center for Collaborative Leadership. Tom Loudon - Fennville, MI - Tom worked in Central America for over thirty in the areas of human rights, sustainable development, and international policy. He served on the Commission of Truth in Honduras following the 2009 coup. Tom has recently retired from the Migrant Workers program for the state of Michigan. He serves on the Board of Directors of the Nicaragua – United States Friendship Office and Red Horse Center | Fred | Bueltmann |
| Children First on the Lakeshore (CFL) | CFL is requesting $10,000 to help purchase food for children impacted by hunger in Allegan county but we will accept whatever you can afford. Your generosity is greatly appreciated. | Yes we received funding last year (and in previous years) and we provided weekend meals for approximately 250 children each week or over 10,000 meals in 2024. If we are lucky enough to receive funding this year, it will again go towards the purchase of food. | CHILDREN FIRST LAKESHORE GEORGE STOUTIN, Co-President GLEN MCNEIL, Co-President JOSEPH BLODGETT, Treasurer JANET SCHMIDT, Secretary JIM SELLMAN, Director JODY VOGELZANG, Director SHARON SHANAHAN, Director BIRDIE WESTER HOLLEY, Director DENISE ADAMS, Director ERIC JIPP, Director AVA TRINGALI, Saugatuck High School Board Liaison MARI VANDEPOEL, Saugatuck High School Board Liaison | Denise | Adams |
| Center for Dispute Resolution/ dba Mediation Services | Mediation Services is requesting $6,425-$12,850 from AWARE to train facilitators to lead Restorative Circles, a healing form of conflict resolution that creates a safe, balanced space where every participant has equal voice and equal opportunity to listen deeply. This unique process is different from traditional mediation because each participant is given the opportunity to speak through the use of a designated talking piece. Restorative Facilitations increase the likelihood that the person speaking is heard fully without interruption. This method fosters deep listening, genuine understanding, and a focus on healing and repairing harm. We are currently using Restorative Circles with court involved youth in Allegan County and their families. We have requests throughout Allegan to facilitate more Restorative Circles with families of LGBTQ+ youth, community members, and even fellow nonprofits. Training 10 Restorative Circle facilitators costs Mediation Services $6,425. It is our goal to train up to 20 facilitators. | We were not selected for grant funding in 2024. In 2023 we were granted $4,500 and served nearly 700 Allegan County residents with that funding. By training Restorative Practice facilitators it allows even greater reach in serving clients, meeting them where they are. Once trained facilitators agree to provide Mediation Services with numbers of clients they serve in Restorative Circles. | Board of Director Officers: Cathleen Anthofer-Fialon Robert Nida (President 1/2024) Casey Marietta (Vice-president 1/2025) Mike Van Ast , (Treasurer 1/2023) Directors: William Brown Sharmila Rajani, J.D. Charles Elwood Alberto Serrano Jennell Challa Conrad Mutschler (Past President, 12/2020) Susan Klooz, M.A., J.D. (Past President, 12/2020 David Solmes Jill Roof | Cathy A | Anthofer-Fialon |
| Saugatuck-Douglas History Center | $5,000 | The History Center reached an audience of over 7,000 people in 2024. This includes in-person attendance at the SDHC's two main facilities, the History Center galleries in Douglas and Museum at Mt Baldhead Park. We anticipate increased attendance this year at exhibitions and programming based on expanded open hours and robust program calendar. | Steve Hutchins, President | Eric | Gollannek |
| Cow Hill Yacht Club | $5,000 | We have received funding in the past. These funds were used to provide assistance with electric bills for people in need in our community. These funds provided help for 8 families. If funds are granted this year, it will provide help for potentially 10-12 families. | Commodore - Mike Applegate | Jude | Mikesell Gemmen |
| Grand Rapids Trans Foundation | $10,000 | If Grand Rapids Trans Foundation (GRTF) receives Aware funding this year, we will use it to support a couple of our Trans-affirming programs. Specifically, 1) provide guidance, advocacy, and financial assistance to 60 Transgender residents seeking legal name changes, and 2) provide recurring monthly bus fare to low-income Transgender residents (variable number of clients, but 100 months’ worth of fares). | Patti Thelen, President, She/Her (Steelcase retiree) | Ximón | Kittok |
| Saugatuck-Douglas District Library | $6000 | In February of 2021, the Saugatuck-Douglas District Library received $2500 from West Shore Aware. The funding request was originally for the purpose of holding 5 concerts or educational events for adults. By the time funds were approved, we were under lockdown and were unable to hold large-scale public events. With permission from your organization, we pivoted and hosted a summer-long public art exhibit called "Unmasked." It featured cell phone portraits submitted by our users. We had over 100 submissions. We selected 50 to be printed and displayed. Countless visitors viewed the portraits over the course of the summer. We also had a public reception and a virtual photography class with Kim Zahnow. | Ingrid Steen Boyer, Director | Ingrid | Boyer |
| Saugatuck Film Fest | 2000 | N/A | Logan White - Festival Director | Logan | White |
| Organization Name | Please tell us the amount of funding you are requesting Aware to raise for your organization from the Aware annual fundraising event. | If your organization received Aware funding in the previous years, how many clients were serviced and/or how many services were provided with those funds. If you receive Aware funding this current year, how many clients will be serviced and/or how many services will be provided with these funds? | Please provide a listing of the Officers and Board members of your organization. | First | Last |
