FREMONT, NE – Nine area nonprofits were recently awarded grants totaling more than $320,000 during the Fremont Area Community Foundation’s first competitive grant cycle of 2024. Grants were awarded to the following nonprofits and projects:

• Aspire for Greatness. $25,000 to help meet the fundamental needs of the older youth Aspire serves, providing access to supportive adults, food, physical activities, career readiness, substance abuse prevention education, life skills, clubs, speakers, homework help, social emotional wellbeing lessons, field trips, volunteer opportunities, near peer mentors, and other enrichment opportunities;
• Care Corps’ LifeHouse. $45,000 to help shore up pantry supplies to serve as many as 10,750 people from Dodge County and beyond this year;
• City of Lyons. $11,000 to help the community provide lifesaving medical equipment strategically located throughout town;
• Community Action Partnership of Lancaster and Saunders Counties. $10,000 to support the Rural Emergency Services program which provides rent, utility and deposit assistance, along with case management, to households within the foundation’s Saunders County grant area;
• Dodge County Fair Foundation. $50,000 for a new event center at the Dodge County Fairgrounds that will serve multiple events during the annual fair and year-round;
• Dodge County SID #2. $4,790 to upgrade the emergency signal system within the Inglewood area for effective communication with City of Fremont personnel;
• Fremont Family YMCA. $100,000 for capacity building work to build sustainability;
• Fremont Health Foundation. $40,000 to help upgrade linear accelerator equipment that will enhance quality and timeliness of service delivery for patients who can and prefer to receive radiation treatment locally;
• Fremont Public Schools. $35,000 to help provide tools and equipment for the automotive lab of the new CTE Center underway at Fremont High School.

FACF competitive grants are funded in part by:

• The Lester Walker Fund, which provides grant funding to 501(c)3 organizations in the Fremont area for civic, cultural, educational, health and welfare purposes, and honors the life and philanthropy of the late Lester A. Walker, former owner and publisher of the Fremont Tribune,
• The Fremont Forever Fund, the foundation’s unrestricted endowment fund which transcends generations to support the improvement of the quality of life in our community, today and in the future, and
• Fremont Forever Friends who have created the following unrestricted endowment funds: Tanya and Blake Dillon Family Endowment Fund, RVR Bank Giving Fund, Todd and Shannon Hansen Family Endowment Fund, Libby and John Headid Endowment Fund, Robert and Dian Hillis Endowment Fund, Roger and Pam Pannier Charitable Fund, Peg and Steve Pribnow Family Fund, Neil and Bonnie Schilke Endowment Fund, Wikert Endowment Fund, Tom and Deanna Wolf Endowment Fund.

“The foundation is blessed and grateful to be able to support this array of wonderful projects underway in the Fremont area,” said Melissa Diers, Executive Director of the Fremont Area Community Foundation. “We couldn’t do it without the support of many in our community who entrust us to carry out their charitable goals.”

Founded in 1980 with a single estate gift, the Fremont Area Community Foundation connects donors, nonprofits and community leaders to address the needs of the community, creating positive local impact. Over the life of the foundation so far, more than $38 million has been distributed throughout Fremont and the greater Dodge County area in the form of scholarships and grants in five areas of interest including arts and culture, civic improvement, education, health and recreation, and social services. The foundation currently administers over $34 million in community assets.

The next deadline for competitive grant applications is April 1st. For more information or an application, visit www.facfoundation.org or call 402-721-4252.

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