Mardag Foundation Supports Youth, Family and Seniors in Northern Minnesota

The Mardag Foundation's latest grants included support for several projects benefiting youth, families and seniors in northern and central Minnesota.

The St. Paul-based foundation gave a $75,000 capital grant to the Northwoods Coalition for Battered Women, Inc., to help fund construction of a new shelter. The organization is the primary service provider for battered women and children in seven northern Minnesota counties, including three American Indian reservations. It has long faced chronic overcrowding and immediate renovation needs in its current emergency shelter. The new, handicap-accessible facility will accommodate 15 residents with seven rooms; double the space available for staff offices, meetings and storage; provide areas for children's educational and recreational programs; and provide privacy for women receiving services.

The Northwoods Interfaith Volunteer Caregivers Program, Bemidji, received $25,000 from Mardag for the Senior Care Outreach and Coordination Project, which will help elders develop a personal care plan so they can continue to live independently. Northwoods provides seniors and other disadvantaged people with support services including transportation, respite care, adult day services and skilled nursing services. Through its partnership with 18 congregations and 125 volunteers, the program provides 350 seniors with 640 hours of service monthly in Beltrami County and portions of surrounding counties.

Older adults also received support from Mardag through a grant of $25,000 to The Good Shepherd Foundation for the Faith in Action Program of Good Shepherd Lutheran Home, which serves older adults in central Minnesota. In the past two years, Good Shepherd has begun providing direct services to seniors, including Faith in Action, a program that offers respite care, housekeeping, transportation and grocery shopping to help older adults remain in their homes. Mardag's grant will support Good Shepherd's efforts to expand Faith in Action to an additional 15 churches for volunteer referrals, and to identify long-term funding for the program.

In other funding, the Mardag Foundation awarded a $20,000 grant to Evergreen House, a shelter for runaway and homeless youth that serves 15 counties in northwest and central Minnesota, including the three largest Indian reservations in the state. Due to cuts in state funding and significant organizational growth over the past two years, Evergreen House plans to diversify its funding base and restructure its top management role. This grant will support the organization's efforts to create the position of program coordinator, allowing the executive director to focus on resource development, strategic planning, organizational capacity-building, the development of a chemical dependency halfway house for youth, and a system of third-party billing.

Overall the board of directors of the Mardag Foundation approved 21 grants totaling $791,500 at its August 2004 board meeting. For a complete list of grants, visit the foundation's Web site (select "News).

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