News

Attention college students seeking meaningful paid work experience and leadership opportunities!  Applications are now available for the Parkersburg Area Community Foundation & Regional Affiliates' (PACF) Civic Leaders Fellowship Program.  This employment program operates for seven weeks beginning on May 31, 2019 and ending on July 19, 2019.  The Civic Leaders Fellowship Program offers local students the chance to return to their home communities to work in a career-related field while learning about their hometowns.  Students are able to develop connections and leadership skills that may later assist them in finding meaningful employment upon graduation. 

To be eligible for participation, students must have successfully completed at least one year of post-secondary education (college, trade/technical school, etc.), be currently enrolled in a post-secondary education program, and have a permanent home address in the PACF’s service region of Calhoun, Doddridge, Gilmer, Jackson, Mason, Pleasants, Ritchie, Roane, Wirt, and Wood counties in West Virginia, or Washington County, Ohio.  The student application is available on the Foundation’s website and must be submitted by February 8, 2019. 

During their time in the Program, Civic Leaders are placed at a work site, in a position related to their career interests, where they work four days a week. On Mondays of each week of the Program, the Civic Leaders participate in leadership activities and programs with other Civic Leaders designed to increase their knowledge of the region and prepare them to engage fully in service to their communities.

Wood County resident Megan Hardway participated in the Foundation’s Civic Leaders Fellowship Program 2014 - 2016.  Through the Civic Leaders Fellowship Program, she was introduced and placed at the Chamber of Commerce of the Mid-Ohio Valley, where she was actively engaged in the day-to-day operations of the Chamber preparing releases, planning events, and serving as liaison for Chamber members.  A 2016 graduate of West Virginia University, Hardway returned to the area to join the Chamber as a full-time staff member! 

“The Civic Leaders Fellowship Program was a wonderful way to gain knowledge and experience in my field, as well as explore volunteer opportunities available close to home,” said Hardway.

The PACF is also seeking organizations that wish to serve as host employers for summer 2019.  Businesses, nonprofit organizations, and units of government may apply to serve as a host employer for the Civic Leaders Fellowship Program.  The Civic Leader is provided to the host employer at no cost.  In exchange, the host employer must be willing to provide supervision and a meaningful work assignment.  Organizations throughout the PACF’s service region are encouraged to apply online to provide an employment opportunity for one of our region's college-aged students.  The host application is also available on the Foundation’s website and must be submitted by March 15, 2019.

To learn more about the Civic Leaders Fellowship Program and to apply to participate as a student or host employer, visit:  www.pacfwv.com/CLFP.  Questions regarding this opportunity may be directed to the PACF’s Civic Leaders Fellowship Program Manager, Mindi Line, at Mindi.Line@pacfwv.com.  

A recent donation from Erie Insurance® to the Parkersburg Area Community Foundation (PACF) will help boost the region’s "Hunger Fund” that provides a permanent and dedicated source of monies from which grants can be made to support our communities’ backpack feeding programs, summer and after-school feeding programs, and other related needs for children, senior citizens, and other vulnerable populations.

“Food insecurity is a significant issue regionally; too many individuals and families experience hunger,” said Judy Sjostedt, the PACF’s Executive Director.  “Our area's data shows a great need to improve the Foundation’s grant resources, so we can better meet essential human needs and improve family and economic stability to relieve conditions of poverty.  Our broad service area's overall poverty rates exceed the West Virginia State average and are well beyond the national rate, but statistics for children under 18 are even more compelling. Looking at the seven counties for which the PACF is the only community foundation funder -- Calhoun, Doddridge, Gilmer, Ritchie, Roane, Wirt, and Wood – poverty rates in five far exceed the State's rate for young children.”

Created a year ago, The PACF’s Hunger Fund began with generous support from many donors in response to a challenge grant from the Ketelsen family.   In addition to building this important charitable fund, the PACF has held partnership meetings since 2016 with the various area organizations working to address this need, to help identify gaps in service and new resources, and identify ways in which its leadership can be applied to address this critical community issue.

 “This gift to the PACF is to build the Foundation’s permanent charitable fund specifically to help address hunger-related projects in our communities,” said Kam Lawson, Erie Insurance’s West Virginia Sr. Business Support Specialist.  “We are honored to support the Foundation with this initiative and thankful to know that more individuals experiencing hunger can be helped through this Fund”

To support the PACF’s regional Hunger Fund, mail a check (made payable to PACF, with “Hunger Fund” on memo line) to the Parkersburg Area Community Foundation, PO Box 1762, Parkersburg, WV 26101.  Or give online here.

Image Caption:  

Representatives from Erie Insurance present a check for $10,000 to the Parkersburg Area Community Foundation.  Left to right, Ben Rucker, Dan Hurley, Jay Simon, Greg Hoffman, Julie Posey - PACF, Kam Lawson, and Carolyn Reger

“By working together, we can do so much more good for our region,” said Marian Clowes, the Senior Program Officer for the Parkersburg Area Community Foundation & Regional Affiliates.

The Foundation is once again making an investment in our region by providing more than $164,840 in grant support to area nonprofits.  A reception was held at the Foundation’s office on Wednesday, December 5 to highlight the grant recipients and the good work they are doing in the community.

Through the Foundation’s bi-annual Community Action Grants Program, area nonprofits seek grant assistance to address organizational needs and programs.  To be considered for a Community Action Grant, an applicant must be a private, nonprofit organization, tax-exempt under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code, or a public institution.  Either the applicant or program to be funded must be located in the Foundation’s eleven-county geographic service area (Calhoun, Doddridge, Gilmer, Jackson, Mason, Pleasants, Ritchie, Roane, Wirt, and Wood counties in West Virginia, and Washington County, Ohio).  Submitted applications are considered for support from charitable funds managed by the Foundation that are designed to support a wide variety of projects and causes throughout the region.

The fall 2018 Parkersburg Area Community Foundation & Regional Affiliates grant recipients are:

• Actors Guild of Parkersburg - $10,000 to upgrade lighting equipment
• American Red Cross of Northwest West Virginia - $2,500 for the Sound the Alarm Campaign to install smoke alarms in at-risk households in Wood and Wirt counties
• Arnoldsburg Volunteer Fire Department –  $7,500 to purchase updated radio and communications equipment
• Blennerhassett FFA Alumni - $4,000 to purchase tools for antique tractor restorations to enhance fundraising efforts
• Building Bridges to Careers - $2,500 to support marketing efforts for the Epicenter and Makerspace
• Calhoun County Committee on Aging - $5,990 to update computer network hardware and software
• Circles Campaign - $7,500 to provide operating support for services to low-income families in the Mid-Ohio Valley
• Community Resources - $7,000 to support Thrive: A Community Empowerment Center that hosts a food choices market and hydroponics garden and provides household goods and baby items to those in need
• Community Spirit of Williamstown - $5,000 to support a mentoring program for at-risk youth and families
• Gilmer Public Library - $2,000 for replacement of flooring in the facility
• Hippodrome/Colony Historical Theater Association - $5,000 to address air conditioning issues
• House of Hope - $1,400 to support the “Art of Recovery” program
• Kootaga Indian Dancers - $3,000 to repair the roof on the organization’s facility
• Little Kanawha Chapter of West Virginia Archeological Society - $2,000 for radiocarbon dating for artifacts excavated at two Wood County sites
• Madison Elementary - $10,400 to enhance music education programs through the purchase of Orff musical instruments, ukuleles, and a sound system
• Minnie Hamilton Health System - $4,100 to update physical therapy equipment
• Mountaineer Food Bank - $7,000 for a scissor lift for the Food Bank warehouse
• Parkersburg and Wood County Public Library - $3,500 to enable the library to become a Foundation Center Funding Information Network Access Partner
• Parkersburg Academy - $2,500 to implement the Destiny Library Manger system for the school library
• Parkersburg Art Center - $12,000 to address renovation needs for the second floor space above a portion of the center’s facility
• Parkersburg Woman’s Club - $5,000 to support the Brown Bag program which provides nutritious food on weekends for students at Emerson and McKinley Elementary Schools
• Pleasant Hill Elementary School - $3,974 for lighting of the quarter-mile track that surrounds the school’s playground
• Reedy Senior Citizen Center - $6,476 to purchase a generator to provide power in the event of a natural disaster or electrical outage
• Regeneration/Packs of Plenty - $5,000 to provide nutritious foods to send home with Ritchie County Students on weekends and school holidays
• Ritchie Regional Health Center - $7,500 to assist with renovations to the school-based health center at Ritchie Middle/High School
• Ronald McDonald House Charities - $4,500 to support the Hoss Lodging Fund to defray the costs for lodging for families from the Mid-Ohio Valley
• The Children’s Listening Place - $6,000 to support training for children on body safety and empower children to stay safe from abuse
• The Salvation Army - $15,000 to purchase furniture for three transitional living apartments which provide an opportunity for families to regain financial independence
• Wirt County Primary Center - $2,000 to purchase equipment to meet the needs of children with autism and sensory disorders
• Wood County Christian School - $6,000 to purchase a double convection oven for the school’s cafeteria

In addition to the grants announced above, the Foundation’s Ritchie County, Doddridge County, and Little Kanawha Area Community Foundation affiliates recently announced an additional $10,700 in grants to organizations providing services in Ritchie, Doddridge, Wirt, Calhoun, and Gilmer counties.