Greater Toledo Community Foundation’s Oswald Supporting Organization and Katherine R. Smith Fund for Youth Award Grants To The RIDGE Project Making a Difference in Lucas County
Contact: Catherine Tijerina, Co-Executive Director
The RIDGE Project, Inc.
419-278-0092
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: 05/24/21
Greater Toledo Community Foundation’s Oswald Supporting Organization and Katherine R. Smith Fund for Youth Award Grants To
The RIDGE Project Making a Difference in Lucas County
TOLEDO, OHIO – 5/24/21 – The Boards of Trustees of the Oswald Supporting Organization, Greater Toledo Community Foundation and the Waterville Community Foundation have approved grants from the Katherine R. Smith Fund for Youth to The RIDGE Project in the amount of $3,000, and from the Oswald Supporting Organization in the amount of $9,000. These funds will be used to fund the TYRO Film Camp 2021 which will be held at the Lucas County Youth Treatment Center and the TYRO STHENOS program at the YMCA in Waterville for youth.
The Oswald Supporting Organization grant will support programming that enhances the lives of young people up to age 18, with an emphasis on serving adjudicated youth and teaching them how to break generational cycles of incarceration, while the Katherine R. Smith grant will be used to provide a physical education program to youth combined with character development at the Waterville YMCA.
The goal of the Oswald Supporting Organization project is to rehabilitate juvenile offenders and their families by developing prosocial attitudes, values, beliefs, and skills. Utilizing The RIDGE Project’s recently released TYRO Youth On-Demand program combined with virtual film-editing classes, the camp will commence virtually and will increase the campers’ likelihood of becoming healthy adults, increase community safety, reduce victimization, and support youth reintegration with opportunities to demonstrate accountability and responsibility. Although the camp is only open to the 32 residents at LCYTC, the messages campers create during TYRO Film Camp have the capacity to reach thousands across various social media platforms.
The Katherine R. Smith grant funds will be used to provide a character-based fitness program (TYRO STHENOS) to help youth use exercise and movement to deal with the emotional stresses the global pandemic has brought, and to give them an outlet to move and socialize in a safe and healthy environment. The overall goal of this program is for participants to be empowered to make healthy choices for their futures, encouraged to use their voices to impact their spheres of influence, inspired to engage in goal setting, and excitement towards starting something new.
Catherine Tijerina, Co-Founder of the Ridge Project shared what this funding will accomplish, “With this funding, we will be able to provide youth with opportunities to ignite their passion and learn self-regulation, resiliency, and the importance of holistic health. We are so grateful for this support to engage youth building better health physically, emotionally, mentally, and socially!”
Greater Toledo Community Foundation, Inc. is a public charitable organization created by citizens of our community to enrich the quality of life for individuals and families in our area. In existence since 1973, the Foundation has more than 920 funds with assets of approximately $377 million. The Foundation provides philanthropic services for individuals, families, businesses and corporations to meet their charitable giving needs. For more information on the Foundation, visit the organization’s website at www.toledocf.org or follow them on Facebook or LinkedIn.
Founded in 2000, The RIDGE Project is a Christian, non-profit organization dedicated to empowering generational responsibility in individuals and improving the lives of families throughout the state of Ohio. The RIDGE project is currently accepting donations to fund programs that support healthy families. Our organization believes that strong families produce strong children, who will pass on that legacy of strength to future generations. For more information about The RIDGE Project and how you can support its community efforts, please call 419-278-0092.
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Press Release Contact Name: Vanessa Ridley
Press Release Contact Email: [email protected]
Press Release Contact Phone: 419-278-0092
Organization Name: The RIDGE Project, Inc.
Website or Link: http://www.theridgeproject.com
Organization Address / City / State: J169 SR 65, McClure, OH. 43534