Berrien Community Foundation (BCF) awarded $270,000 in grants at their 73rd Annual Meeting & Celebration on October 9 at The Mendel Center’s Grand Upton Hall at Lake Michigan College.
“This year’s annual meeting feels like a true homecoming – a celebration of how far we’ve come together,” said Lisa Cripps-Downey, BCF President. “Just like a great team on the field, our nonprofit partners, volunteers, and supporters have faced challenges head-on, lifted each other up, and played with heart. It is teamwork and spirit that makes this community unstoppable.”
Berrien Community Foundation presented five major awards: Alamar Nonprofit Sustainability Grant, Carolyn’s Kids, The Stephen E. Upton Love Your Community Grant, Golden Acorn Volunteer Award and Golden Acorn Excellence Award.
2025 Alamar Nonprofit Sustainability Grant
Rising Kites received the $75,000 Alamar Nonprofit Sustainability Grant. This grant supports nonprofits as they explore innovative ways to care for their employees and achieve organizational sustainability. The grant is paid out over three years.
Rising Kites celebrates the gift of Down syndrome by bringing encouragement, resources, inclusion, and support to those within the Down syndrome community. What began with the distribution of free bags filled with resources to families receiving a Down syndrome diagnosis has now expanded to include Rising Kites Coffee shop in Bridgman, as well as Rising Kites Flowers. Together, these enterprises now employ 16 individuals with disabilities.
“Rising Kites is at a critical point in its growth. What began as a grassroots effort to support families at the moment of a Down syndrome diagnosis has grown into a full-circle nonprofit model with international impact and locally rooted, inclusive employment programs,” said Julie Strating, Rising Kites board member. “To sustain that growth, we must now invest in our leadership infrastructure.”
Rising Kites will use the grant to compensate its leadership team as well as invest in their professional development and work to create a succession plan to ensure the organization’s long-term sustainability.
Carolyn’s Kids
The Carolyn’s Kids grant program awarded a total of $140,000 in grants to support the needs of children.
With their $50,000 Carolyn’s Kids grant, The Children’s Advocacy Center of Southwest Michigan (CAC) will be able to sustain and expand their school- and community-based child abuse prevention programming in Benton Harbor, St. Joseph and Stevensville. Funding will directly support education and outreach efforts that equip children and adults with the tools to recognize, prevent and respond to abuse. In addition to abuse prevention programming, CAC offers forensic interviews, trauma-focused behavioral therapy and family advocacy and support services, all free of charge to families in need.
“Our long-term goal is to provide comprehensive (child abuse) prevention education in every school in…Berrien County on an annual basis,” said Allie Kibler-Campbell, CAC’s Child Abuse Prevention and Outreach Supervisor. “The Carolyn’s Kids grant will play a crucial role in securing these services for thousands of children and families in the coming years…this ensures that every child can grow up safe, resilient, and supported by a vigilant, informed community.”
Ready for School also received a $50,000 Carolyn’s Kids grant to fund the evidence-based literacy program Reach Out and Read (ROR). Through ROR, Ready for School partners with pediatric healthcare providers to support children’s healthy development by equipping parents and caregivers with the knowledge and resources to make reading with their child a daily routine. Ready for School is currently partnering with InterCare Benton Harbor, training and supporting healthcare providers to provide literacy and early relational health guidance to parents of children ages 0-5 years. Starting with the first newborn visit and ending with the 5-year visit, ROR-trained medical providers provide literacy guidance and training to families, providing them with a new, high-quality, developmentally appropriate book at each visit and encouraging parents to make daily reading time with their child a priority.
“ROR is the nation’s largest evidence-based literacy model and the only one endorsed by the American Academy of Pediatrics,” said Angela DeLost, President and CEO of Reach Out and Read Michigan. “Independent studies demonstrate ROR’s impact with parents 2.5 times more likely to read with their children (and) higher…language scores for children exposed to ROR.”
A Carolyn’s Kids grant of $40,000 was awarded to United Through Motherhood, which partners with local nonprofit community organizations to distribute free diapers, pull-ups, wipes, and other supplies to families in need. What began in 2021 as a diaper drive sponsored by Temple B’nai Shalom in Benton Harbor has evolved into a nonprofit organization that, in 2024, provided 201,000 diapers to its partner organizations.
“We know anecdotally from all our partners that access to free diapers and other baby supplies has made a true difference to their clients,” said Ruth Kremer, United Through Motherhood’s founder and president. “We most often hear that free diapers made it possible for mothers to go back to work.” United Through Motherhood has also launched a new program, Safe Sleep, intended to mitigate preventable deaths of babies who sleep in unsafe conditions.
The Stephen E. Upton Love Your Community Grant
Samaritan Counseling Services received the $50,000 Stephen E. Upton Love Your Community Grant to address what the organization sees as its number one concern – the Youth Mental Health Crisis.
“Nearly 1 in 3 children (18 and under) in Southwest Michigan are struggling…with anxiety, depression, and fears that they’re too afraid to voice,” said Kim Forsey, Samaritan’s executive director. “(This grant will) allow Samaritan Counseling Center to expand our youth counseling, ensuring kids…all across Berrien County can see a professionally licensed counselor in a matter of days, not weeks, so they feel heard, helped, and given hope when they need it most.”
The Love Your Community Grant is presented each year to a Berrien County nonprofit organization that addresses a crucial community need and makes a positive impact on the lives of Berrien County residents.
Golden Acorn Volunteer Awards
Berrien Community Foundation honored Ruth Kremer of United Through Motherhood with the 2025 Golden Acorn Volunteer Award. Along with the recognition, Kremer was awarded a $1,000 grant to direct to the nonprofit organization of her choice.
“As the founder of United Through Motherhood, Ruth volunteers her time providing diapers and other baby supplies to families in need,” said BCF Program Director Susan Matheny. “She generously applies her skills and talents to support BCF whenever we ask. She is a community treasure.”
Golden Acorn Excellence Award
Berrien Community Foundation awarded the 2025 Golden Acorn Award for Excellence, along with a check for $4,000, to Lake Michigan College.
“Each year we recognize an organization that goes above and beyond to serve our community,” said BCF Board Secretary Phil Molloy. “This year it is our honor to recognize Lake Michigan College for leadership, partnership and dedication to the community.” Their Golden Acorn award will be tied to a new book fund for students in need, helping to ensure greater access to educational resources.
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