Mt. Lebanon charity gives $45,000 to five childhood hunger organizations
For the fourth straight year, Giving2Grow has donated more money to childhood hunger organizations than it had the year prior.
Jennifer McDowell, president of the Mt. Lebanon-based nonprofit, said she’s surprised by the success of the charity that donated a total of $45,000 to five different organizations in southwestern Pennsylvania this year.
“It’s amazing. I never anticipated that this would happen every year,” McDowell said. “We’re going now into our fifth year, and we’ve given more each year. Our total is now $145,000 over those four years.”
Giving2Grow gave out four $10,000 grants to South Hills Interfaith Movement’s Community Garden program, Bible Center Church’s Oasis Project, the Pittsburgh Black Breastfeeding Circle and Fayette County Community Action Agency’s Let’s Get Cooking program. It also gave a $5,000 grant to United Methodist Church Union’s Kids Meal Network.
All of the money Giving2Grow grants to organizations is used to alleviate childhood hunger and improve childhood nutrition.
Ngozi Tibbs, co-founder of the Pittsburgh Black Breastfeeding Circle, said Giving2Grow’s grants the last three years have been vital to her organization’s ability to survive.
“We are so very blessed and grateful for organizations like Giving2Grow that took a chance on us as a brand new organization,” Tibbs said. “Because of their support, we’ve been able to sustain ourselves for the last three years.”
The PBBC’s goal is to promote the importance of breastfeeding for black mothers.
“When you think about what Giving2Grow is all about, they are a nutrition grant,” Tibbs said. “When we think about what’s best nutrition for babies, breast milk is what comes to mind. When we are encouraging women to breastfeed their babies, we recognize that we are also changing the health status of mothers and babies for the rest of their lives.”
When deciding which organizations to give grants to, Giving2Grow members go on site visits. McDowell went on the site visit to Fayette County Communication Action Agency’s Let’s Get Cooking program, and she is excited Giving2Grow is reaching other counties.
“I was really pleased that the group voted for it because it’s reaching out a little bit farther than we have in the past,” McDowell said. “Fayette County is very different from Allegheny County. There’s a lot of poverty there. This agency really does an amazing job of reaching out to people who are in tough situations. That’s a new direction for us.”
Giving2Grow, which started in 2014, is a giving circle – a way of philanthropy that involves a group of people pooling money and deciding together whom to give it to – for women in the South Hills. Each member gives $500, no more, no less, each year. Childhood hunger organizations then apply for grants through Giving2Grow, and the members democratically decide how to split the money.
“I like to refer to it as the power of collective philanthropy,” McDowell said. “This is an opportunity for people who are interested in addressing children’s health and nutrition needs in our area. With your $500 you can be a part of supporting one of these organizations that do that work. The money goes directly to supporting those needs. You are a part of something that is much bigger than just individual support.”
McDowell said 71 of the 81 members voted for which organizations should receive grants, a percentage she said is “astonishing.”
“That shows how seriously we take this,” she said.