The Unifour Endowment, a fund of the North Carolina Community Foundation, has awarded $259,240 in grants to 36 organizations supporting the local community.

The endowment granted:

• $10,000 to 957 Mobile Cafe for general operating support
• $4,000 to Adult Life Programs, Inc. for adult day services operating support
• $7,500 to Ashure Ministry, Inc. for collective impact
• $2,500 to Book Harvest for Books on Break in Burke County
• $14,080 to Burke United Christian Ministries for food programs
• $10,000 to Caldwell House for Transportation for Transformation
• $5,000 to Caldwell Council on Adolescent Health, Inc. for the Healthy Youth Act program focused on teen pregnancy and STD prevention
• $5,000 to Caldwell Senior Center for Thrive: Age Reimagined
• $7,500 to Catawba County Partnership for Children for KidsREADy Catawba
• $5,000 to Catawba County Council on Aging for West Hickory Senior Center
• $3,000 to Catawba County Hispanic Ministry, Inc. (Centro Latino) for general operating support
• $5,000 to Catawba Science Center for Little Scientists of Burke County
• $5,000 to Children’s Advocacy Center of Catawba County for advancing advocacy through continuing education
• $10,000 to Christian Crisis Center of Alexander County to purchase food
• $10,000 to The Corner Table for general operating support
• $2,000 to Council on Adolescents of Catawba County, Inc. for the Lunch Buddy Mentoring Program
• $15,000 to Greater Hickory Cooperative Christian Ministry for the Dr. John Earl Medical Ministry Clinic
• $5,000 to Habitat for Humanity – Catawba Valley, Inc. for homeownership program
• $9,080 to Helping Hands Clinic of Caldwell County, Inc. for mental health program
• $11,580 to Hickory Soup Kitchen to provide nourishment to the hungry
• $5,000 to Hickory Community Theatre for The Penguin Project: Empowering Children with Special Needs Through Theatre
• $5,000 to Hickory Museum of Art for Art for All
• $7,500 to New Beginnings Hickory for the Fit for Service program
• $5,000 to Neighbors Network, Inc. for Neighbors Rides
• $10,000 to Open Hearts Place for development program for long-term sustainability
• $2,500 to The Overflow NC Inc. for Seeds of Purpose: Youth Empowerment through Gardening, Farming, and Food Justice Education
• $6,000 to Patrick Beaver Learning Resource Center, Inc. for the Reading Success Tutoring Center
• $10,000 to Safe Harbor of NC, Inc. for Restoring Lives, Renewing Hope
• $10,000 to The Salvation Army of Hickory for Warm Meals Warm Hearts
• $20,000 to Shelter Home of the Foothills for emergency shelter campus operations
• $5,000 to Shepherds For Sheepdogs Inc. for service dog placement
• $5,000 to Shining Hope Farms for equine assisted learning groups
• $5,000 to South Caldwell Christian Ministries for Helping Families Stay Together
• $7,500 to TROSA (Triangle Residential Options for Substance Abusers, Inc.) for residential recovery services for people from the Unifour region
• $2,000 to United Way of Caldwell County for Be Well: Caldwell Youth Mental Health Initiative
• $7,500 to Western Piedmont Symphony, Inc. for music enrichment, access and youth wellbeing

“Supporting local nonprofits and charitable organizations helps keep our communities vibrant, healthy and connected,” said Suzan Anderson, the grants committee chair of the Unifour Endowment. “We turn generosity into lasting community support, so resources are there year after year.”

The Unifour Endowment was established at NCCF in 1998 with the proceeds from the sale of the Hickory Merchants Association’s credit reporting company to Equifax. The endowment promotes general welfare among citizens in the four counties that comprise the Unifour area: Alexander, Burke, Caldwell and Catawba. Visit nccommunityfoundation.org/Unifour to learn more.

Unifour Endowment Advisory Committee
An advisory committee reviews applications and makes selections for grant funding. Members of the committee are nominated based on knowledge and understanding of community needs and must reside, work, or own property in one of the four counties served. In addition to Anderson, committee members include Nancy Bledsoe, Nancy Fritz, Susan Gray, Amy Moore, Patty Schenk and Jamie Treadaway.

About the North Carolina Community Foundation
The North Carolina Community Foundation transforms the collective generosity of its donors into a permanent source of community support, with a focus on the state’s rural areas.

NCCF partners with donors and a network of affiliates to sustain more than 1,300 endowments totaling over $600 million in assets. Nearly $360 million has been awarded as grants to charitable organizations and scholarships to students, creating stronger communities for generations to come.