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Most groups get funding from city’s grant program

SOLANA BEACH — With help from Santa Fe Christian Schools, requests from nearly all 12 organizations seeking funding from the city’s Community Grant Program were fulfilled with either money or in-kind donations.

A dozen organizations applied for more than $51,000 in financial aid through the program, although only $15,000 was available.

Representatives from nine of the groups attended a November City Council meeting to explain how the money would be used.

Steve Kuptz, Santa Fe Christian’s chief financial officer who was at the meeting for a different issue, heard the requests and offered to help the five groups serving Eden Gardens, an area the school was focusing on to provide assistance.

After a series of meetings with those organizations, Santa Fe Christian donated $15,000 and in-kind offers such as volunteers, free bus transportation and meeting space.

At the December meeting, council members granted $5,000 to the Community Resource Center for its Holiday Baskets Program, which provides food, clothing and toys for low-income area residents before Christmas.

It deferred allocating the remaining funds until the Jan. 11 meeting, at which time they awarded grants to six other groups (numbers below).

Santa Fe Christian provided full or partial assistance to the Mano a Mano Foundation, Kids Korps USA, La Colonia de Eden Gardens, the Boys & Girls Clubs of San Dieguito and the St. James and St. Leo Medical and Dental Program. It also offered free meeting space for the Clean and Green Committee’s annual event in March.

The Community Grant Program helped complete some requests not completely filled by Santa Fe Christian.
North Coast Repertory Theatre sought $3,000 for a performance to educate students and teachers at Solana Vista Elementary School about an anti-bullying campaign. City officials are considering using some of the approximately $90,000 from the Public Arts Advisory Commission budget to fund that request.

Rancho Coastal Humane Society, which applied for but didn’t receive money in 2011, and It’s the Pits canine rescue received no funding. Neither group attended the November meeting to explain how the money would be used.

Coast Waste Management and EDCO Waste and Recycling Services, the city’s two waste haulers, each contribute $5,000 to the program. The city provides the remaining funds.

Community Resource Center:    $5,000
Solana Beach Little League:    $2,500
La Colonia de Eden Gardens:    $2,250
St. James & St. Leo Medical/Dental:    $2,000
Boys & Girls Clubs of San Dieguito:    $1,125
Solana Beach PTA:    $1,125
Clean and Green Committee:    $1,000