CFWNC’s Melvin R. Lane Fund Awards $900,000 to Human Service Nonprofits

PRESS RELEASE: 

Six nonprofits serving Western North Carolina will receive $900,000 over three years from the Melvin R. Lane Fund of The Community Foundation of Western North Carolina. The grant program helps human service organizations improve operations and become more collaborative and sustainable in order to better the lives of Western North Carolina’s disadvantaged citizens. The following 2016-2018 grant recipients will receive $150,000 each over three years:

Eliada Homes – to diversify and increase revenue streams through a major gifts staff position, which will improve consistency of services for disadvantaged youth in Western North Carolina.

Freedom Life Ministries – to increase revenue through the creation of fund development and marketing positions and by hiring program support staff to improve leadership development. Freedom Life Ministries helps adjudicated individuals in McDowell County transition successfully into society.

Helpmate – for development support to increase revenue in order to double the capacity of its shelter capacity, which serves victims of domestic violence in Buncombe County.

Mountain Child Advocacy Center – for a technology upgrade and administrative and fund development support in order to serve more children who are victims of abuse and neglect in Buncombe County.

Mountain Housing Opportunities – to increase access to affordable and workforce housing in Buncombe, Haywood, Henderson, Madison and Transylvania counties through development and marketing support and the implementation of new financial models for housing development.

OpenDoors of Asheville – to support operations and to undertake strategic planning in order to increase services and improve outcomes. OpenDoors programs works to raise the reading levels of struggling students growing up in multigenerational poverty to at least grade level before entering high school.

“As we begin an intensive three-year effort to double our affordable housing production and services, we are grateful for this multi-year grant from the Melvin R. Lane Fund,” said Scott Dedman, Mountain Housing Opportunities Executive Director. “In 2015 we completed 112 new homes, however, Buncombe County alone needs more than 200 new homes per year to meet demand for a growing workforce, retirees and people with disabilities, and needs are great in surrounding counties. With the capacity building support of the Melvin R. Lane Fund, we believe we can meet our goal of producing more than 230 new homes per year by 2019.”

The three-year grants are made possible through the Melvin R. Lane Fund, created by Melvin and Georgianna Lane, longtime residents of Henderson County. Lyn Fozzard, daughter of Melvin R. Lane, oversees the fund with her sons Peter and Richard, daughter-in-law Libby and members of the Lane Advisory Board. CFWNC President Elizabeth Brazas said, “The Lane Fund grant program enables social service nonprofits to improve operations and build capacity so that they can help more people. The Lanes were passionate and generous philanthropists who recognized the importance of this type of support. CFWNC is proud to support the family in carrying on their legacy.”

The Community Foundation is a permanent regional resource. The Foundation focuses discretionary resources on People in Need, Early Childhood Development, Food and Farming and Preserving Natural and Cultural Resources. Foundation staff work with donors to enrich lives and communities in the 18 counties of Western North Carolina. Last year, CFWNC facilitated $18.9 million in charitable giving. Visit cfwnc.org to learn more.