By Mike Feazel
In an effort to support community service organizations across Fluvanna County, the Lake Monticello Community Foundation is launching the Fluvanna Action Fund. The goal is to help ensure that nonprofits and community service groups serving the entire county have the resources they need to continue their work.
Since its founding, the Lake Monticello Community Foundation has been an active contributor to organizations that benefit people throughout Fluvanna. In its first six years, the foundation raised and donated about $50,000 to countywide nonprofits and community service organizations.
Major recipients have included Fluvanna Meals on Wheels, the Fluvanna SPCA, Lake Monticello Fire & Rescue, the MACAA food bank, Fluvanna Habitat for Humanity, scholarships for county high school students, the Fluvanna Dolly Parton Imagination Library, the FLRD food pantry, Fluvanna High School Boosters, Happy Faces, All Blessings Flow, the Fluvanna Arts Studio Tour, Lake Monticello Piecemakers and the Martha Jefferson Hospital Foundation.
The foundation is expanding that effort by creating the Fluvanna Action Fund to collect money dedicated to supporting countywide organizations. In addition to direct contributions from the foundation, community residents and corporate donors will be able to designate contributions specifically for the fund.
Money will be distributed to organizations that submit grant applications or that the foundation determines would benefit most.
The Lake Monticello Community Foundation is launching the fund with an initial $5,000 donation and expects to continue contributing at a rate similar to its countywide giving in the past. An advisory committee made up of major donors and others will help the foundation set priorities for grants.
The foundation will also continue supporting projects specifically benefiting Lake Monticello, following such efforts as the all-inclusive playground, kayak launch ramps and Mobility Mat. It is currently evaluating several ideas for new Lake-focused projects. Donors will continue to be able to contribute to the foundation generally to support those efforts.
More information is available at www.lakemonticellocommunityfoundation.org.
