Beacon of H.O.P.E. receives grant
The Beacon of H.O.P.E. received a $15,000 grant from the Franklin Square Foundation Wednesday morning, which will pay for the Students Achieving Success coordinator’s salary.
“It really says what the Beacon does,” Beacon of H.O.P.E. Executive Director Betsy Haesemeyer said of the grant. “This grant pays salary funds. What we raise goes to the community.”
Mary Navia, grants manager for the Franklin Square Foundation, said in 2010 she did a little volunteer work at the Beacon of H.O.P.E. for three or four months and saw what a great job they were doing for the community.
“They are certainly very helpful in a lot of areas,” she said.
Navia said she decided to bring the organization to the Franklin Square Foundation’s attention. She said the foundation decided to ask the Beacon of H.O.P.E. to submit them a proposal.
“We have funded some of their really important projects over the last two years,” Navia said.
The Franklin Square Foundation, which formed in 2001, is a small family foundation that is based out of Illinois.
Navia said in 2010 the Beacon of H.O.P.E. was awarded $10,000, which was used to help pay a driver for their transportation van. In 2011, the Beacon was awarded $12,000 to help with salary costs.
“The foundation is very impressed with the work that was being done at the Beacon, we were just trying to help them with their programs,” she said of why they have received three grants.