[Music]
one of the real joys of being on the
Bexley Community Foundation grants
committee is having the opportunity to
make funds available to projects in
Bexley that are going to reflect our
mission as a foundation of Bexley being
a special place to live to learn to grow
to have fun and we want our projects and
the grants to make make that even more
so when my husband and I were first
looking for a home in which to raise our
children one of our our probably our
number one criteria was that we wanted a
community where education was valued and
that starts with the school system but
we quickly found out that was also the
library and my children grew up knowing
that the Bexley library was a resource
for them it was a place for my husband
and me to enjoy as well the Librarians
were key to my children's education with
all the questions that they would have
um this is what makes Bexley so special
and and it's wonderful when the
foundation can support projects that
benefit a place like the Bexley Library
we were fortunate last year to receive
two grants from the Bexley Community
Foundation one to help us purchase
supplies for the homework Help Center
and another to help us purchase games
and other activities for young kids who
aren't yet in school to help them focus
on their early literacy skills this year
we're very excited because we were given
a grant to purchase creation software
for our our new creation stations we're
going to purchase two iMacs we're going
to load them with video editing software
photo editing software music editing
software with the help of the Bexley
Community Foundation we really feel like
we've been able to achieve our mission
of our commitment to lifelong
learning when the grants Committee of
the Bexley Community Foundation was
getting organized we realized that one
of our main issues was going to be
notifying groups and individuals within
the city that money was available a for
their projects we did so but business
was slow and we didn't do a very good
job so in the winter we offered a grant
writing Workshop which proved to be very
effective and since then we have gotten
many qualified Grant requests the kayak
program through the Bexley Recreation
Department is a perfect example of a
grant that meets all of our criteria and
definitely strives to be a perfect
example of preserving the Bexley
experience the Recreation and Parks
Department was excited to receive a
Community Foundation Grant this spring
for our kayak and canoe program through
this program we're going to be able to
reintroduce the residents of our
community to the Alam Creek we'll be
able to bring as much as 10 youth and
adults ranging from many different
experiences of beginner to advance to to
reintroduce them to the creek and and
all the positives that it brings to our
community the bexi Community Foundation
was delighted to get the the application
proposal from the Bexley Police
Department for the Safety Town which we
have
funded many years ago when I had little
children I tried to get a safety town
going with a dear friend Diane Lewis who
was a neighbor we stood on Drexel and
watched cars whizzing by and and decided
that we really needed to have our
children um involved in something like
this we got nowhere but now we have the
vexi Community Foundation which is
funding this and we're delighted to work
with the police department the grants
committee spent many hours working
refining um getting it uh to the point
where we felt very comfortable with it
and we're delighted to to fund the U uh
Safety Town for the exy police
department we're really excited to
receive the Beckley Community Foundation
grant for our Safety Town program it's
geared toward the young kids towards
safety buyer safety 911 stranger danger
traffic safety animal safety it's a
really important part of uh the
curriculum for the school um it teaches
kids how to be safe in the community um
and we look forward to preserving the
safety in our community for years to
come the music on Main series is a it's
12we series during the summer we have 12
Fridays between 6:00 and 8:00 p.m. where
we have local musicians come out to bexi
businesses and uh they've been to
Starbucks they've been to Cafe Istanbul
here we are in front of sherber Bakery
which is a an excellent business we have
here in Drexel right around the corner
from Main Street and it's just part of
the the new energy that we're seeing on
Main Street we uh you know right now
today I'm standing across from art
access Art Gallery where we have a a
gallery opening tonight right around the
corner from jeppis where happy hours
going on and a lot of people are over
there right now about to head over this
way um there's just a whole lot of
energy that's been drawn to Main Street
so this grant has really helped us to
kind of help knit together Main Street
[Music]
the Bexley Community Foundation received
many applications and the one for the
farmers market was one of the most
competitive we're so pleased to see it
be so successful and to have made this
investment here at the Bexley Farmers
Market we like to engage not only the
adult shoppers but the younger Shoppers
as well and this year we're doing that
through the farmers market passport
program today's activity is to learn
about your vegetables you all know about
your vegetables right that's our biggest
piece of the plate
and today we want to find five
vegetables or fruits that are either
green or orange all of this is possible
because of the generous contribution of
the Bexley Community Foundation thank
you for your generosity and support