Will Rogers Race Foundation members Mike Solum (left) and Jimmy Klein (center) present a check to Bill Skinner, an Optimist Club representative.
Seventeen organizations were the recipients of grants of $40,000 that was donated to the Palisades Optimist Club by the Palisades Will Rogers Run Foundation (PWR).
The Foundation, which runs the 5/10K Fourth of July Race, partnered with Optimists, to select organizations to receive grants from the Race net proceeds.
Members of the Optimist Club send out an invitation to local organizations inviting them to fill out a grant application. Once they were received, grants were read, evaluated and checks were delivered in April.
Grant chair Jody Margulies said “As in every past year, it is extremely difficult to make the requests and our available funds meet a happy outcome.
“Fortunately for the Palisades Optimist Club, the PWR Foundation increased our grant amount, which enabled us to reach out to all of our grant candidates,” she said. “Not all received the amount requested, but I think we did a great job of dispersing the grant money from the Will Rogers Foundation.
“We are grateful for their financial backing in supporting our Palisades Optimist Grant Program,” Margulies said.
Receiving grants this year were:
Arts:
Brentwood Art Center (for art camp supplies for youth) and Pacific Palisades Arts (community programing at local library).
Palisades High School:
PaliHi Band (instrument repairs), PaliHi Booster Club (chemistry lab updates) and PaliHi Quarterback club (spots medical supplies).
Pre-school and Elementary:
Friends of Marquez (Enrich L.A. Garden Program), Presbyterian pre-school (playground update), Theatre Palisades Youth (theater class) and Foster Warriors (foster youth self-esteem program taught in Palisades by ex-Navy SEALS).
Local Groups:
Village Green (tree trimming), Palisades Americanism Parade Association (4th of July parade), YMCA (teen programs and sponsoring a youth track meet) and Resilient Palisades (awards for high school students).
Optimist Foundation:
Youth scholarships and for the Optimist Youth Home (intervention program for sexually-exploited youth).
Optimist Club Foundation Chair Chuck McGlothin said the club added $7,500 to the Will Rogers Run Foundation grant money, which will allow them to give five Palisades High School students each $2,000, which will be awarded at a meeting on May 21.
McGlothlin asks everyone to remember to sign up for this year’s Fourth of July race, even walkers and people pushing strollers click here. “We welcome walkers to come and walk the 5 K route through the Huntington Palisades.
“We hope everyone will register, because the race net proceeds will be given back to the Palisades with funding that will go to Youth activities,” McGlothlin said, and added that the Optimist motto is “Friends of Youth.”
Signup to walk or run in the Will Rogers 5/10K the money helps fund community needs.
Photo: Shelby Pascoe
The Optimists funded an award for Resilient Palisades new “Environmental Advocate Award” given to a deserving Pali High Senior that has made a significant contribution to solving an ecological problem. We are so grateful for their generosity. Their “optimism” that they can make a difference in the lives of our youth is a good lesson for all of us!