To the Editor:
In this day and age, it’s difficult to understand how to go about organizing a community help program that’s open to all. It’s also a daunting problem regarding how to fund such an effort and where to place it for operation where all members of the community can attend.
Without question, this can be achieved by local community members, through the cooperation of local houses of worship, that have a classroom available and a serious concern and community interest for all.
Needless to say, this would have to involve all religious faiths and all ethnic backgrounds gathered together to learn and support each other in this process.
The result of this type of organization will assist all people involved to understand the fears and concerns of others in our communities and put them to rest.
What is needed to start this sort of project is a willingness to organize as a non-profit corporation with a Board of Directors. Most churches have already organized as a Non-Profit. This will allow serious application for funding.
It’s also necessary to seek an accountant willing to guide this new corporation in it’s birth. Again, accountants are generally willing to assist in this sort of project, particularly if it’s giving birth to a new corporation within their own community and/or church. This will likely result in a new client.
I strongly recommend reading the publication of “Grants.Gov” found on the internet. It’s free and open to all that want to investigate the possibility of applying for and getting a very large State or Federal Grant to pursue a worthy cause.
If successful, any grant in addition to its intended purpose, will likely require employment for many different professionals from within the community. This means more jobs, likely part-time good paying positions, for professionals.
What is my background and how do I know about this? I did this with the cooperation of two churches of different faiths that were interested in helping people, without regard to their faith, especially children. This is a story all by itself.
We organized to help put children on the right track for success and we were very successful. The grants continued annually until we were exhausted from working and we lasted for twenty-eight years.
During that time we continued to write grant applications that brought into the community over ten million dollars, fed children and daily guided needy children, plus employed nearly a hundred people both professional and non-professional and this resulted in changed lives.
Currently, there are hundreds of millions of Federal and State Grant dollars waiting for someone to put this money to work. Please, take a few minutes to review the enormous amount of WEB Sites that offer information regarding Grant Money, particularly ‘Grants to Non-Profit’ corporations.
“New Jersey Grant Watch.Com is a good place to start. It’ll make your community a better place to live with more opportunities for everyone.
Senator Bob Mendenez, also has a Federal Grant Opportunity site to explore. This is all truly worth your time and effort to consider.
