News 12 at 6 o'clock / Thursday, March 24, 2011

AUGUSTA---As much as we talk about being in a bad economy, many people in our area are still donating time and money to help out local charities. Today, Women in Philanthropy gave away more than $82,000 in grant money to local nonprofits.

The concept is simple. A group of women each donates $1000 to a big pot of money, and every year, that money goes to nonprofits that help women and children locally. But the impact of those dollars is anything but simple.

"As individuals we think we can't do much with a thousand dollars, but when we pool that, the collective power of our purse is amazing," said Faye Hargrove, Grants Committee Chair for Women in Philanthropy.

The first grant of $32,000 was awarded to Child Enrichment, Inc., which helps counsel more than a thousand abused women and girls in our area every year.

"The money from Women in Philanthropy will go to assist primarily the children needing counseling, cognitive behavioral therapy, for children who are traumatized, usually those are the sexual abuse victims," said Dan Hillman, Executive Director of Child Enrichment.

The Boys and Girls Club of the CSRA was given a grant to partner with Girls on the Run, a new athletic mentoring program.

"The program is not about who's the fastest or winning the race." said Kam Kyzer, Executive Director of Boys and Girls Club CSRA. "It's about learning about yourself as a girl, building self esteem, setting goals and figuring out how to get there."

Another $27,000 was given to the Augusta Alzheimer's Association, to fund education and respite programs for local caregivers.

"With this grant we can help those individuals have dignity at the end stages of this devastating disease, when basically everything has been robbed of them. The thief of Alzheimers just takes it all away," said Kathy Tuckey with the Augusta region Alzheimers Association.

Women in Philanthropy has now given away nearly a quarter of a million dollars over three years to help women and kids.

"To me that's just amazing. That we can come together and have such an impact on this community," Hargrove said.

Earlier this week, the St. Joseph Foundation also awarded grant money--$100,000--to local charities that help with homelessness, medical care, and unemployment. SRNS gives more than a million dollars every year to toy and food drives, Habitat for Humanity, and education grants. And that's all local donors giving back to the local community.