Filling in the Blanks and Boys and Girls Club of Stamford Win $100,000 Grants IMPACT Fairfield County

Read the full article on Greenwich Free Press by clicking HERE.

Filling in the Blanks announced this week they are thrilled to be a recipient of a$100,000 Grant given by IMPACT Fairfield County.

The vote followed a rigorous application process which narrowed down an initial pool of nearly 60 nonprofit applicants to five finalist organizations who presented at the Grant Awards Celebration.

After undertaking a comprehensive review of the applications and conducting thorough site visits, members selected the five finalists, and ultimately the two winners, based on criteria including the organization’s demonstrated impact, the population served, and the long-term sustainability of the project.

Filling in the Blanks and Boys and Girls Club of Stamford won the $100,000 grants.

Filling in the Blanks, based in Norwalk, is fighting childhood hunger by providing over 8,000 children in need with meals on the weekends, delivering over 3 million meals in their 11 year history. After learning that families were sharing the meals provided for the children, FITB launched the “Fresh Food on the Move” mobile food pantry program, which conducts two monthly distributions in Norwalk and Stamford.

This initiative serves 900 families a month, offering grade-A quality fresh vegetables, fruit, meat, grains, and dairy, empowering families to cook nutritious meals at home and eat together. “Fresh Food on the Move” creates a supportive environment similar to a farmers’ market, partnering with local agencies and providing services ranging from hygiene products, winter coats, books, flu vaccines, health insurance, housing and employment opportunities, and financial literacy at the events, in addition to the food pantry.

With support from the Impact FFC Grant, FITB will fund seven mobile food pantry events, providing over 175,000 pounds of fresh food to community members.

“Our mobile pantry is more than just food – it’s a community hub providing essential services with dignity and compassion and helping to reduce stress from their lives. With the addition of these seven events, we’ll be able to provide increased consistency, trust and compassion for our families, transforming the lives of so many who struggle with food insecurity and other challenges” said Shawnee Knight & Tina Kramer, Co-Founders, Presidents of Filling in the Blanks.

With Impact FFC’s membership representing 19 towns across Fairfield County, Impact FFC continues to push the boundaries of where and how Impact FFC can make a difference, across the spectrum of age groups and supporting a variety of initiatives ranging from education and skill training, to healthcare, to basic needs.

In its ninth year of investing to transform the lives of Fairfield County’s neediest, Impact FFC has provided over $2.1 million in total grant funding. “With this year’s grants, we will be supporting initiatives designed to better meet the health, wellness and basic needs of our community members. We look forward to seeing these organizations use their grants to impact so many,” said Impact FFC Co-President Jenny San Jose.

Next year’s grant cycle will represent Impact FFC’s tenth year of giving, which will be celebrated throughout the year.

Impact FFC is a collective giving organization whose mission is to encourage women to engage in local philanthropy through deeper knowledge and active participation in grantmaking. It unites women by pooling membership funds to provide large, transformational grants to nonprofit organizations across Fairfield County.

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