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Boys & Girls Club of Fond du Lac receives $10,000 flood assistance grant from the Alliant Energy Foundation


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Dollars coming from Foundation’s Rebuilding Our Communities Grant Program

The June 12-13 flood waters that invaded the Fond du Lac area took a toll on many commercial and residential structures. One of many buildings that paid the ultimate price was the historic Hamilton Park building, a structure that took on so much water that it became uninhabitable. The City of Fond du Lac owned facility served as both the administrative headquarters and Teen Center site for the Boys and Girls Club of Fond du Lac since the group’s beginnings in 1996.

Without the ability to keep operations going in the Hamilton Park building, it has been a struggle for the Boys and Girls Club to provide much-needed services to at-risk teens. In addition, it has seriously damaged the organization’s ability to function as a human services agency due to the lack of a location for staff to perform their professional duties. Subsequently, Teen Center services have been suspended due to an inability to obtain sufficient alternative program space, and administrative functions have been hampered significantly with the loss of office space. All in all, it’s not a very good situation.

To assist the Boys and Girls Club of Fond du Lac in its recovery from the flooding, the Alliant Energy Foundation is pleased to announce that the group has been awarded a $10,000 grant from its Rebuilding Our Communities Grant Program. The program’s goal is to provide unrestricted grants to help non-profit groups throughout Alliant Energy’s utility service territory with recovery from the recent flooding.

“The Boys and Girls Club of Fond du Lac is a very important part of the community and it normally serves more 400 young people a day and has over 1,100 registered members,” said Marthea Fox, Alliant Energy Foundation Executive Director. “The Alliant Energy Foundation wants help the group get back on its feet as quickly as possible so it can continue to provide critical services to the youth of Fond du Lac.”

The Boys and Girls Club is currently working on securing a site for an interim Teen Center and it is working diligently on a transition plan to bring service levels back to where they were prior to the flooding. The tentative goal is to have most operations running by the start of the school year on September 2. The group is working to salvage whatever it can from the Hamilton Building while seeking funding to replace the equipment, academic resources and assets lost due to the flooding.

“In the last five years, membership at the Boys and Girls Club has increased nearly four-fold and daily attendance has nearly quadrupled,” said Stan Kocos, Chief Professional Officer for the Boys and Girls Club of Fond du Lac. “The Club’s services continue to be in high demand and we will work through this challenging time and get back to full operation soon. We are very thankful for the grant from the Alliant Energy Foundation to help us in our time of need.”

Of the more than 4,000 Boys & Girls Clubs sites nationwide, only two were severely impacted by the recent Midwest flooding: one in Fond du Lac and the other in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. The Alliant Energy Foundation has stepped forward to help both clubs with Rebuilding Our Communities grants.

The Alliant Energy Foundation’s Rebuilding Our Communities Grant Program was created in response to the extensive flooding across Alliant Energy’s utility service territory in Wisconsin, Iowa and Minnesota. The Foundation has allocated $1 million for the program and non-profit groups can apply through October 1st for $5,000, $10,000, $15,000 or $20,000 unrestricted flood recovery grants. Funds are to be used to help non-profits resume or maintain operations.

Non-profit groups can request funds by submitting a brief application form explaining their need and the population they serve that was affected by the flooding. A determination of grant eligibility will be made within 14 days of submission.

To be eligible, an organization must be a registered non-profit organization as defined by Section 501(c)(3) of the United States Internal Revenue Service Code. Organizations are encouraged to review eligibility guidelines before applying. Government entities (i.e. schools and public libraries) are not eligible for this program.

Over the past ten years, the Alliant Energy Foundation has contributed more than $26 million across the Alliant Energy utility service territory to projects and organizations through a variety of programs and worthwhile initiatives. To learn more about the Foundation and its Rebuilding Our Communities Grant Program, please visit www.alliantenergy.com/foundation; or request an application from the Foundation office by calling (608) 458-4483.



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