Sweet Home Community Foundation President Bob Burford announced 10 grants, totaling approximately $20,000 to local organizations Saturday night at the Chamber of Commerce Awards Banquet.

The foundation has distributed grants in the community since 2003, using profits from the Oregon Jamboree and contributions from local members of the community.

“This week it was announced that the national unemployment rate is at 8.3 percent,” Burford said. “Though these are clearly tough times, we, as a community, must remain optimistic. Let us choose to look at the glass as half full and remember that the 91.7 percent of us who are, by the grace of God, working, should continue to give where we live.”

Burford said later he did not have the exact amount of each grant immediately available, but he said the maximum is $2,500, and some organization asked for less.

Grants were made for the following projects:

- Foster School Playground – Safety upgrades to playground equipment used by students, as well as community families who use the school facility as a neighborhood park.

- Sweet Home United Methodist Church Manna Meal Program – Purchase chairs for use in providing meals to 60 to 80 needy people each Friday evening.

- South Santiam Watershed Council STEWARDS program – The program provides nature experiences for Sweet Home families and youths. It includes guided expeditions into the forest, which cover more than 25 educational topics during the course of the program, which will serve approximately 190 people.

- Sweet Home Police Department Shop With A Cop – This program teams needy children, who are in foster care through no fault of their own, with local police officers, who help them shop for family members and, for a few hours, try to bring a sense of normalcy to the children’s otherwise chaotic lives.

- Little Promises Children’s Program Surveillance System – This project will complete video surveillance inside and outside classrooms at Little Promises to help assure the safety of the children at the facility.

- Sweet Home Senior Center/Linn Shuttle Street Bus Shelter Improvements – Funds will be used to install glass in the bus shelter at the Senior Center to provide protection from adverse weather while passengers wait for the bus.

- Sweet Home Pregnancy Center Baby Safety Project – Grant funds will be used to purchase infant/child car seats, cribs and mattresses for clients involved in the Parenting Education Program. In 2008 there were a total of 345 client visits at the Sweet Home Pregnancy Center.

- Oregon Cascade West Senior Services Meals on Wheels/Senior Meals Program – Grant funds are used to purchase meals for Sweet Home-area seniors. Grant funds from the Community Foundation double the impact of Medicaid dollars. Meals on Wheels served 21,877 meals throughout the past year.

- Kiwanis Jim Riggs Community Center Video Presentation Aids – Grant monies will be used to purchase video presentation equipment for use in the Community Center.

- Sweet Home Boys and Girls Club Image Makers Program – Image Makers is a national program that allows youngsters to express their creativity by taking and printing their own photos. Club staff help children uncover their artistic talents, develop their creative skills and explore related career opportunities.