Business Advisory Council Awarded OCCF Grant

The Ottawa County Community Foundation founded by the late Joy Roth in 1999 has parlayed its amazing success as a public charitable organization to creatively support a legion of non-profit agencies around Ottawa County. On Thursday, June 15, the OCCF awarded 38 of them more than $80,000 at the annual breakfast at Catawba Island Club.

For many, the funding was a much-needed boost to continue to do good things around Ottawa County in the coming year. All of the grant requests were scrutinized by OCCF officials and final reports are due in 2024.

“We are pleased to partner with such diverse and deserving organizations in 2023,” said OCCF Executive Director Shea McGrew. “Their services are crucial to this area, and touch so many lives.”

The grants program is funded by private donations and earnings from several unrestricted Community Funds and Donor Advised Funds held by the OCCF that total more than $11 million. The Foundation has already distributed more than $7 million in grants and scholarships.

The largest grant this year was from the OCCF’s Special Initiatives Fund, with $20,000 given to the Business Advisory Council of the Ottawa County Improvement Corporation (OCIC), earmarked for the Ottawa County State Testing Nursing Assistant program.

“The mission of the Business Advisory Council (BCA) is to engage the business and education communities to understand and support the educational and employment needs within Ottawa County,” said Clay Finken, President of the BCA and Director of the Erie-Ottawa International Airport in Port Clinton.

Few needs are as critical as bringing students from the county’s six primary school districts to the OCIC Skilled Trades Academy to become nurse’s aides. They are urgently needed at places such as Magruder Hospital in Port Clinton, the Riverview Nursing Home in Oak Harbor and the Luther Home of Mercy in Williston, as well as other nursing facilities, said Finken and Katherine Adams, the Workforce and Career Exploration Manager at OCIC.

Full Article: www.thebeacon.net/foundations-crucial-funding-touches-many-lives-around-area/