The San Martin Neighborhood Alliance gave away $3,800 in grants to local organizations at the nonprofit organization’s March 16 general meeting at the San Martin Lion’s Club.
The grants were awarded to nonprofit organizations supporting the community of San Martin, according to a press release from the SMNA. Last year, the SMNA awarded grants to the Gamma Alpha Literacy Project, the San Martin-Gwinn Home and School Club, Friends of the San Martin Animal Shelter, Boy Scouts Troops 730 and 799, Dream Power Horsemanship and Mt. Madonna YMCA.
Some of those recipients won grants again this year.
The annual application cycle for the grants started Jan. 1. Proceeds from the SMNA’s 2012 Happy Days Car Show funded this year’s grant awards.
SMNA award committee members Art Reidel, Abe Andrade, Trina Hinser, Vicki Wittman and Donna Brodsky evaluated the applications and helped select the winners.
The following grants were awarded at last week’s SMNA meeting:
-$750 was awarded to DreamPower Horsemanship for the purchase of 10 new riding helmets. DreamPower provides therapeutic equestrian programs and services to children, teens and adults with special needs.
-$300 was awarded to Informed Choices to purchase classroom materials, educational booklets and informational pamphlets for their Youth Speaker Team. Informed Choices serves teens, women, their partners and their families who are facing the challenges of an unplanned pregnancy.
-$2,000 was awarded to Friends of the San Martin Animal Shelter, for veterinary services, medicine and foster and comfort supplies. Last year alone FOSMAS spent about $40,000 on these services.
-$750 was awarded to the Poppy Jasper Film Festival, to help advertise the festival, provide film-making workshops for students and sponsor a San Martin film competition.
The SMNA’s mission is to protect San Martin’s rural atmosphere, support positive controlled growth, promote neighborhood identity and vitality, ensure an influential voice in the local governing body and provide members with information so they can take an active role in decisions regarding neighborhood concerns, the press release says.
