During a luncheon Friday, Onward! A Legacy Foundation, awarded 33 grants totaling $72,606 to community organizations.
Cortez-based Onward! started 20 years ago as an umbrella organization that manages fiscal investments for area nonprofits, said executive director Chuck Forth.
Non profits, Onward!, businesses and individuals donate toward grants and scholarships funds that are awarded each year.
“The local philanthropy makes a difference and is focused in Montezuma County,” Forth said at the award ceremony held in the Montezuma County Annex. “Let’s give out some money!”
Five different funders supported this year’s nonprofit grant awards:
Heart of Axis Employee Giving Fund, Onward! Endowment Fund, Golden Dreams Fund, Searle Community Endowment Fund, Heartwood Fund and the Yellow Jacket Charitable Fund.
Grant awards range from $500 to $3,000. Awardees this year included Renew Inc., Collaborative Management Program Community Connections, DARE To Be You Program, Montezuma Food Coalition, Southwest Colorado Canyons Alliance, Cortez Library District, Mancos Trails Group, Dolores Watershed Resilient Forest, Dove's Nest,
Four Corners Community Band, Galloping Goose Historical Society, K-9 Search and Rescue Team, Reaching Out to Community and Kids, Students Tackling Unhealthy Decisions, Montezuma County Search and Rescue, Housing Solutions for the Southwest, Oak Tree Resources, KSJD Community Radio, Durango Cowboy Poetry Gathering, Imagination Library, Four Corners Child Advocacy Center, Hospice of Montezuma, and Montezuma Orchard Restoration Project.
Also this year the Onward! scholarship program funded by local organizations and individuals awarded $65,000 to 33 high school seniors.
