By: Matt Davenport

Bannock County has been awarded over $20,00 in grants. These grants will help purchase things like new flooring for Aid for Friends to new oven bags for the Meals on Wheels program in Lava Hot Springs.

The Idaho Community Foundation has awarded $133,865 in grants to 83 organizations in 16 counties in Eastern Idaho, including more than $22,000 for Bannock County groups.

Grants ranged in size from $300 for Malad Middle School to purchase materials for teaching English to Spanish-speaking students to $4,200 to Caribou County Senior Center, Inc., to buy a convection oven.

There were 143 applications, totaling $549,171.

"We are pleased to help with such a wide range of worthwhile programs," said Bob Hoover, CEO and president of the foundation.  "Each of them plays a role in enriching the quality of life throughout Idaho, which is the foundation's mission."

Overall, the grants support a wide range of community needs in Eastern Idaho, including the following for Bannock County:

Aid for Friends, Inc., continue the flooring replacement program at the Emergency Shelter, $2,238

City of Pocatello, pay for the design, fabrication, and installation of interpretive panels/displays at the new Grizzly Bear Exhibit, $2,000

Family Services Alliance of Southeast Idaho, buy preschool furniture and equipment for three locations, $1,000

Idaho Diabetes Youth Programs, Inc., provide camperships for eight campers from the Eastern Region counties for the 2009 camps, $2,052

Idaho Foodbank Warehouse, Inc., partially underwrite the cost of providing a weekly backpack filled with six nutritious meals to children who have been identified as chronically hungry, $2,500

Idaho Shakespeare Festival, Inc., support the eastern Idaho portion of the Festival's educational outreach tours to elementary and secondary schools for the 2010 academic year, $2,250

Idaho StateCivic Symphony Association, Inc., produce concerts for elementary students in Bannock, Power, Bingham and Caribou counties, $2,000

Idaho State School for the Deaf and the Blind, promote and maintain comprehensive educational opportunities for deaf, hard of hearing, blind, and visually impaired children from birth to 21 years of age in Eastern Idaho counties, $3,000

Idaho State University Foundation, purchase four intravenous training arms for practical nursing, registered nursing and medical assisting training programs, $1,200

Lava Hot Springs Senior Citizens Center, purchase four thermal bags for the Meals on Wheels program, $608

Log Cabin Literary Center, Inc., support Idaho Writing Camps that empower students in self-discovery through creative writing, $1,500

Zonta Club of Pocatello Service Foundation, Inc., provide one-time emergency rent and/or utilities assistance for individuals or families in crisis situations through the Families in Crisis Project, $1,000

Total, Bannock County,$22,84

Grants are awarded by the ICF Board primarily on the recommendation of the Foundation's Eastern Region Grants Panel, which is comprised of local community leaders who volunteer their service as grant reviewers.

The Idaho Community Foundation is a statewide nonprofit organization composed of more than 400 individual funds, pooled together for efficient management. Total assets at year end 2008 were approximately $55 million.