Foundation News...

Will Pino received a request from the Mother of Sorrows and spoke with their Sister Paulie. They had a request for $3,646.10. The money is to be used to provide "Houghton Mifflin Practice Books" for each student in each grade. This will provide books for over 100 students in total.

Their children have been using the Houghton Mifflin program since kindergarten. For the past 2 years every eighth grade graduate was qualified for entrance into Catholic High Schools.  There is great value in this as the school gives to children who's parents wouldn't normally be able to afford a tuition. The Foundation was glad to help with this grant in 2010.

St. Vincent Meals on Wheels, in Los Angeles, approached Joe Auer with a grant request for the redesign and implementation of their web site, www.stvincentmow.org, this upgrade will provide an opportunity for higher visibility as well as an increased out-reach to its donors through the internet. Their current site was developed in 2004. St. Vincent Meals on Wheels correctly points out "A new and fresher and more dynamic website can be not only an effective tool for donations, but it also present an opportunity to develop closer and more personal relationship with our donors". Online donations have increased significantly over the over the last few years, a 46% increase from 2008 to 2009. Online donors also tend to be younger than traditional donors which would suggest the nonprofits ability to reach a new audience of givers. 

There are three main components of the website update: 
1. The Architecture and Navigation Development 
2. Website Design and Template Creation and E-commerce Oversight 
3. Maintenance 

St. Vincent Meals on Wheels is requesting a grant request of $6,875. The Foundation has decided to make a grant of $3,875, and Dad and Mom will supplement this with a personal gift, and a Foundation matching gift of $1,500 each to make up the difference.

Jessie Weber received a request from the Mary Magdalene Project for $1000 to support a Drop In Center. This new initiative is intended to help women who are not yet ready or able to leave prostitution by providing services such as case management support, counseling, and tangible resources.  The funding would go towards the cost of staffing the center and providing the aforementioned services as well as food, water, and clothing.