Henriquez Fund Awards Grants to Local Teens for International Travel and Community Service
May 3, 2007
Great Barrington, MA — Mexico, Russia, Turkey, Haiti and Uganda are among the nine countries where Berkshire teens will perform community services this summer, thanks to grants from the Alice and Richard Henriquez Fund/Youth World Awareness Program. Four high school students and four nonprofit organizations received grants totaling $14,300 from the program, which supports travel and humanitarian work in foreign countries by young people ages 14-22. The Henriquez Fund is managed by Berkshire Taconic Community Foundation.
Grants were awarded to:
Drew Mintz, South Egremont: $1,000 to participate in the International Camper Exchange Program for six weeks of travel and community service in Sweden and Russia.
Phoebe Trotta, Salisbury: $1,000 for participating in AFS for five weeks in Argentina, including working in an orphanage and living with a host family in Buenos Aires.
Bryan McManus, Spencertown: $1,000 for a 3-week student exchange program at the Munich Waldorf School, including assisting in construction projects in Romania.
Rosana Zarza, Williamstown: $1,300 for a 5-week Experiment in International Living program in Turkey, which combines living with local families and community service.
Operation Unite, Hudson: $4,000 to sponsor five youths and three adults to travel to Uganda for cultural immersion, including volunteering in schools.
COTY Center, North Adams: $2,000 for the Haiti Plunge, a program in which local students travel to Haiti to participate in reforestation and home construction.
Bard College, Annandale: $2,000 for the Nicaragua Project, which sends students to Nicaragua for three weeks to build houses in the impoverished, rural area of Chacraseca.
South Berkshire Mentoring Program: $2,000 for eight teens, who will travel to Mexico for three weeks to volunteer at a local orphanage, study and travel.
Grant applications are judged by a committee of local residents based on how the project will engage the applicant with young people in other countries, provide to learn new customs and lifestyles and involve some form of community service.
The next deadline for The Alice and Richard Henriquez Fund/Youth World Awareness Program grant application is April 1, 2007. Applications are available online at www.berkshiretaconic.org or by calling Berkshire Taconic at 800-969-2823.
Berkshire Taconic Community Foundation is a nonprofit organization that cultivates philanthropy in ways that have a direct positive impact in Berkshire, Columbia, northeast Dutchess and northwest Litchfield counties. For more information, please contact Berkshire Taconic at 271 Main Street, Suite 3, Great Barrington, MA, 800-969-2823, e-mail info@berkshiretaconic.org or visit the Website at www.berkshiretaconic.org.
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