Black Mountain-Swannanoa Valley Endowment Fund announces 2024 grant recipients

The Black Mountain-Swannanoa Valley Endowment Fund awarded 18 grants totaling $117,980 to nonprofits serving the community in its recent grant cycle. The Endowment, in partnership with The Community Foundation of Western North Carolina (CFWNC), has awarded grants totaling $1,538,600.

In addition to the Endowment, the Buckner Family Endowment Fund, Forbes Fund for Black Mountain-Swannanoa Valley, Helen S. and Jerry M. Newbold, Jr. Endowment Fund, and Standaert Family Endowment Fund provided funding for these grants.

“Through its grant program, the Black Mountain-Swannanoa Valley Endowment Fund supports local nonprofits doing work in our community,” said Advisory Board Chair Kannah L. Begley Walker. “Building an endowment for the Swannanoa Valley has allowed us to give back to organizations that provide critical services and improve the quality of life for everyone who lives here. We hope that we can fund more programs with more dollars each year, which is why we continue to grow the Fund. We are grateful to our friends and neighbors who support us in these efforts.”

The 2024 grants are:

$3,500 to Big Brothers Big Sisters of Western North Carolina for a mentoring program that serves disadvantaged youth.

$2,500 to Black Mountain Center for the Arts for security and safety equipment.

$10,000 to Black Mountain Counseling Center to provide counseling sessions to uninsured or underinsured people affected by domestic violence.

$2,500 to Black Mountain Parks and Greenways toward preliminary steps required by NCDOT to install lights in the box culvert under I-40 between Veterans Park and the Community Garden along a greenway.

$10,000 to Bounty & Soul to support a mobile food truck that provides fresh vegetables and fruit.

$1,000 to Brother Wolf Animal Rescue to subsidize spay and neuter surgeries for pets from low-income families.

$5,000 to Center for Conscious Living & Dying to improve accessibility to an education center.

$3,000 to Charles D. Owen Middle School to replace lost and damaged books for its Media Center.

$5,000 to Council On Aging of Buncombe County for a senior dining and wellness program.

$10,000 to Food Connection to provide meals for people with low incomes.

$10,000 to Friends and Neighbors of Swannanoa for a feasibility study for a greenway and sidewalks in the Swannanoa Valley.

$10,000 to Hammer and Heart to provide home repairs for low-income households.

$10,000 to Helping at Risk Kids to shelter homeless youth and provide summer camp experiences for, and address essential needs of, children in DSS custody.

$10,000 to Meals on Wheels of Asheville and Buncombe County to purchase wholesale food for meal preparation for homebound seniors.

$10,000 to Pisgah Legal Services for free civil legal assistance and advocacy to low-income survivors of domestic violence and child abuse.

$5,500 to St. Vincent de Paul Society – St. Margaret Mary Conference to provide automobile support for people with low incomes.

$3,000 to Swannanoa Valley Museum & History Center for a security system.

$6,890 to Waypoint Adventure for an outdoor program that serves adults with physical challenges and to purchase an adaptive off-road wheelchair.

In 1999, local residents established the Black Mountain-Swannanoa Valley Endowment Fund as a permanent charitable endowment to meet local needs. Gifts added to the Fund’s principal are preserved and invested, while grants from the Fund support nonprofits serving Black Mountain and the Swannanoa Valley. To make a tax-deductible contribution, donate online at www.BlackMountain-SwannanoaValleyEndowmentFund.org or by mail to the Black Mountain-Swannanoa Valley Endowment Fund, c/o CFWNC, 4 Vanderbilt Park Drive, Suite 300, Asheville, NC 28803, memo line: Black Mountain-Swannanoa Valley Endowment Fund. Contributions of any size are welcome.

The local Advisory Board includes: Sylvia Bassett, Kannah L. Begley Walker (Chair), Jose L. Bello, Mary Anna Belz (Secretary), Amy Berry, Jon D. Brooks (Vice Chair), Esteve Coll-Larrosa, Margaret Fuller Hurt, Rodney L. Lytle, Bradley McMahan, Sheila H. Showers, Joseph Standaert, and Betsy Warren.

CFWNC works with families, businesses and nonprofits to strengthen communities through the creation of charitable funds and strategic grantmaking. A permanent charitable resource, the Foundation manages over 1,200 funds and has facilitated more than $362 million in philanthropy since its founding in 1978. Learn more at www.cfwnc.org.