Community Foundation awards $16,000 in grants

LITCHFIELD COUNTY — Residents of Greater Waterbury and the Litchfield Hills will reap the benefits of $16,000 in grants for community events recently awarded by Connecticut Community Foundation to 18 local nonprofit organizations. Funded events include community theater productions, fundraising dinners and auctions, historical exhibits, holiday celebrations, a robotics competition and a girls’ leadership conference.

Julie Loughran, president and CEO of Connecticut Community Foundation, “Events like these are essential to bringing communities closer together. Pursuit of common goals — side by side with neighbors — is often the springboard for shared understanding. As the community foundation for Greater Waterbury and the Litchfield Hills, we want to help create those opportunities for local residents now more than ever.”

Among the grants is one to Little Britches Therapeutic Riding program in Woodbury for $1,000 to support its annual community dinner. The organization aims to improve the physical and emotional well-being of individuals with special needs through the use of horses and ponies.

Alice Daly, executive director, said, “Connecticut Community Foundation’s event sponsorship grant allows the Little Britches community to come together and celebrate another successful year. It also creates an opportunity for our families to connect with each other, furthering their networks through relationships of shared experience. The support they find in each other is just as important to the success of our program as the therapy we impart, and the Foundation enables so much of that success.”

Goshen Players, an allvolunteer community theater in Goshen that is the second oldest continuously performing theatre group in Connecticut, also received a grant. Begun by a small but enthusiastic group of professional and amateur actors, Goshen Players has expanded their offerings to a full season of productions.

“Goshen Players has been providing quality community theater to the northwest corner for more than 70 years, which we would not be able to accomplish without the support of our season sponsors, including Connecticut Community Foundation. Along with the cost of the three productions in our season, we also maintain and improve our theater in the beautiful, historic Old Town Hall of Goshen to provide the best possible theater experience for our patrons,” said Lynne Wilson, president of the Goshen Players Board of Directors.

View all 18 new grantees and their funded events at https://bit.ly/2PRIf8e.

This is the third round of event sponsorship grants awarded by the Foundation this year. Made possible through the generosity of many donors, the grants support events open to the public in the Foundation’s 21-town service area hosted by 501(c)(3) nonprofit organizations, libraries, over-55 communities and/or senior centers.

Established in 1923, Connecticut Community Foundation fosters creative partnerships that build rewarding lives and thriving communities in 21 towns in Greater Waterbury and the Litchfield Hills. The Foundation provides leadership in addressing the region’s critical issues, strengthens local nonprofit organizations through grants and technical assistance programs, and works with individuals, families and corporations to administer charitable funds. Learn more at www.conncf.org.