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Marietta Welfare League awards grants

MARIETTA – The Marietta Welfare League presented its annual grants Tuesday to 13 organizations in Washington County.

The grants have been part of the Marietta Welfare League’s community outreach for more than 20 years, said league president Jane Crumrine.

“The welfare league loves to support the arts and sports and creative endeavors. But this year we found that basic needs were more of what we saw in front of us when looking at grant requests,” she said.

Several women’s and children’s groups were aided by this year’s grants, including Marietta Middle School’s Science Olympiad team, Harmar Elementary School, Marietta City Schools, EVE Inc. and the Ely Chapman Education Foundation.

Ely Chapman will be using its grant to purchase desks and chairs for the children in the after-school and summer programs, said development director Ann Hontz.

“The chairs and desks we have now are splintered and they were donated back in 1999,” she said.

Washington-Morgan Community Action received a grant for the Secret Santa program it oversees.

“Last year the program served 505 low-income children. We spent over $29,000 in cash donations and got as many in new toys. It’s a big program,” said Cathy Rees, program assistant for community action’s department of Senior and Community Services.

A total of $20,010 in grants were distributed, said Nicole Coil, chair of the welfare league’s finance committee.

The funds come from the profits the league makes at The League Shop, a coffee and gift shop run by volunteers at Marietta Memorial Hospital.

The league was able to generate what is an average year’s worth of grant funding despite only operating the shop for nine months this year.

The shop closed Sept. 30 while MMH worked on renovations, said Amy Elliott, past president of the league.

“They are building us a completely new shop in a central place in the hospital,” she said.

The shop is expected to reopen in May, she said.

The hospital’s long-standing support of the welfare league has greatly aided the organization’s mission, said Crumrine.

The Memorial Health Foundation was among the organizations to receive a grant Tuesday.

Memorial Health Foundation Executive Director Daneka Hedges said the money will be used for a variety of things ranging from providing wigs for cancer patients to helping subsidize care costs when insurance does not fully cover someone.

The grant presentation was held at The Betsey Mills Club, which also received a grant to purchase new equipment for its heated pool.

“We need new weights and webbed hands so that people can do aerobics,” said Linda Lewis, executive director of the Betsey Mills Club.

Doctors often refer people to the pool at the Betsey Mills Club for aerobics and arthritis exercise classes. The new equipment will aid in those individuals’ therapy, said Lewis.

“Some of our swimmers are really looking forward to it,” she said.

Other organizations that received grants Tuesday were Veterans of Foreign Wars, Washington County Board of Developmental Disabilities, Daily Bread Kitchen, Friends of the Museums, and the Marietta Area Community Food Pantry.

The league does not disclose how much each organization receives each year.

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