From Robert E. Waters, Chairman:
Medina area people can be proud of their five years of good support of the Sandstone Trust, according to last week’s committee opinion. The community endowment just completed its fifth year of making small grants to local programs, projects and organizations and the total in grants over the five-year period comes to nearly $20,000. This was reported by Michael Zelazny, chairman of the grants committee, who was obviously pleased as checks were distributed in January.
“Scores of worthy projects have been supported since 2010 and the grants have covered a wide range,” said Zelazny. He said grants run from $200 to $600 or even $1,000 in unusual cases. He gave a smattering of typical grants. Money for the local library to continue digitizing historic hometown newspapers, help to the local Historical Society for winterizing, help for the Parade of Lights in the village, dollars to the YMCA for stonework repairs and interior up-grading, help to the Renaissance Group in placing eleven historical plaques downtown for delight of tourists.
Also, help in restoring a historic building at Millville Cemetery, support of yearly concerts here through the Arts Council, help to Arc of Orleans for client trips and for Nutri-Fare, help to the Medina Business Assn. for installation of a downtown sound system, help to Orleans Christian School, a Head-Start School on Ensign Ave. and family programs at Medina Junior High, aid to CAC for a literacy program, support to GCASA for a program called “Healthy Me” and to Hospice for its new Albion building.
New grants this year have included improvements to the veterans plot at Boxwood Cemetery, to the Business Assoc. for Old-Tyme Christmas, emergency dollars to fix porch damage at the Medina Historical Museum, dollars to Arc of Orleans toward kitchen equipment for Camp Rainbow, support for Medina’s Civil War Re-Enactment in April, stone repair from frost damage at the armory (“Y”), And continuation of student scholarships.
Over the past five years about 40 grants have been approved by the citizen selection committee which operates under Zelazny. “Late each autumn we invite grant applications and even though the amounts given are small they are genuinely helpful to projects having a limited scope,” he said.
When the Sandstone Trust was officially created in 2009 the society used an obsolete economic development fund which was inactive and in danger of being seized. A contract was written with the Community Foundation of Greater Buffalo for financial management, a practice given by CFGB to over 800 such endowments. That management has been trustworthy, according to Zelazny, and the original $18,000 in seed money has multiplied five-fold.
In addition to Zelazny’s grant committee a group of officers from the board of the Sandstone Society oversees the general plan and it includes Craig C. Lacy, Margaret J. Scheck, David C. Schubel, Robert E. Waters and Timothy J. Moriarty.
The founders of the Trust have had some “high spots” of success over the five years. In the summer of 2010 with the aid of a downtown thermometer the Trust took in $35,000 in six weeks. “It was much fun painting red marks on that thermometer,” recalls Mrs. Schreck, the society’s secretary. “All the business people along the street kept cheering us on.”
Annual donations to the Medina Sandstone Trust can be made at any time to the Sandstone Society • Post Office Box 25 • Medina, NY 14103. Or, make an online donation by clicking HERE. Gifts offer a total tax deduction.
