February 20th 2022

Feb 20th 2022

Our Center is fully funded through donations and grants. In the past few months, we've been awarded two different transportation grants that I'd like to tell you about.

God's Work, Our Challenge Endowment For the Poor. This is a grant from the Diocese of Raleigh; it is funded from their capital campaign.

It is designated for apostolic works for the poor with special emphasis on minority ministries. It is managed by a committee appointed by the Bishop of the Diocese of Raleigh.

We applied for the grant, requesting funds for work-related transportation costs for our guests' job hunting, interviews, travel to work, as well as gas and maintenance for the parish van that we use for pickups and deliveries for our ministry. Our application was reviewed by the Committee and

they notified us that we were awarded $4,000 for our project. The bulk of the grant will be used for gas for transportation; we will also use it for other needs, such as Greyhound bus tickets for people that find employment out of town. We are really pleased to be able to offer this assistance to help people with their employment opportunities.

Making Waves Foundation This foundation was formed in 2010 by the Cape Fear Public Transportation Authority. Recognizing that access to transportation is a great barrier to those in need, they focused on 'Helping Others Catch the Wave'. They created a community transportation grant for subsidized Wave Transit passes, Priority is given to requests that can make a significant impact in the Lower Cape Fear region. Applications are accepted from non-profit organizations that serve those in need of assistance with public transportation.

Many of our guests depend on the bus for their transportation needs - travel for doctor's appointments, work, school, social service visits, job hunting, shopping, visiting food pantries and other errands. We have a bus stop across from Church and that makes it convenient for them to visit us. This grant gives us an opportunity to assist them with their transportation needs. We submitted an application asking for 925 one-way passes for adults; these have a value of $1950; we requested subsidized passes, offering to cover $350 of the cost. Our application was accepted which resulted in a huge savings of 82%!. We have been fortunate to receive this grant several times through the years and we are very grateful to be recipients.

Mary Ann

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