The Carpenter Foundation accepts applications twice each year and a three-member board considers requests from groups that benefit the community.
Grant recipients this year include Communities in Schools, University of Mary Hardin-Baylor, Lone Star Legal Aid, Fort Hood Area Habitat for Humanity, Czech Heritage Museum and Genealogy Center, Central Texas Jazz Society and Central Texas Housing Consortium.
The Fort Hood Area Habitat for Humanity received $22,500 to help build homes in the Temple-Belton area. Gene Bauer, executive director of the Fort Hood Area Habitat for Humanity, said the funds will go to pay for half of a home they are building in Belton.
“They’ve been great supporters of us for many years and we greatly appreciate their support,” Bauer said. “If we didn’t have it we wouldn’t be able to do as many homes in the Temple-Belton area as we do.”
Bauer said applicants specify what they need the money for in their applications.
“When we turn in the application we specify what we would use the money for,” he said. “Once the application is approved, we use the money for what we say we needed it for.”
The University of Mary Hardin-Baylor received $40,000 to provide scholarships and program support for the university’s Conservatory of Music.
“We’re thrilled because this allows us to provide music lessons for children and youth in the Central Texas area that in many cases would not be able to afford this kind of opportunity,” said Jonathan Gary, Conservatory director at UMHB. “If it weren’t for the Carpenter Grant, there would be many students who would not be able to pursue their private music instruction throughout the year.”
Gary said the Conservatory has received a grant each year since 2009, when they received $20,000.
“One of the reasons they have increased the amount every single year is because we do try to scholarship a new opportunity each year,” he said. “This year our opportunity is classic guitar.”
The Conservatory also offers beginning music lessons to three Head Start programs in Temple.
Other grant recipients received thousands of dollars to fund growth or improvements in their organizations as well. Those include:
n Communities in Schools, which received $45,000 to help pay the salaries of two CIS staff members who will assist at the Meridith-Dunbar and Hector P. Garcia campuses in Temple school district.
n The Belton office of Lone Star Legal Aid, which received $21,000 to fund a part-time volunteer coordinator.
n The Czech Heritage Museum and Genealogy Center in Temple, which received $10,000 to help finish constructing and restoring the museum, and to move its artifacts into the building.
n The Central Texas Jazz Society, which received $7,000 to help fund the preservation and growth of jazz music in Temple.
n The Central Texas Housing Consortium, which received $30,000 to assist in renovation costs for a 64-unit complex for low-income elderly and disabled people.
