(Fremont County, WY) – First Lady Jennie Gordon’s Wyoming Hunger Initiative, in partnership with the John P. Ellbogen Foundation, allocated $118,400 this summer to anti-hunger organizations in the form of “unrestricted” funding defined as expenses to anti-hunger organizations that may not fit the criteria for infrastructure or food.
The local 2024 recipients include Good Samaritan Emergency Food Pantry and Pushroot Community Garden.
Wyoming Hunger Initiative prides itself on being uniquely positioned to provide the framework and foundation for successful collaborations and solutions to hunger statewide. After a series of conversations with partners at local Wyoming Hunger Initiative Regional Summits, the John P. Ellbogen Foundation came forward with their plan to support and address the needs that were identified, but lacked sources of funding. Some examples of these needs include salaries, utilities, rent, marketing, assistance with acquiring a nonprofit status, internships, communications, storage, and accounting assistance.
“The Ellbogen Foundation is delighted to work with the First Lady and the Wyoming Hunger Initiative to serve the people of Wyoming. We are so thankful for this partnership and the opportunity to provide flexible support to the many organizations in our great state that help to meet the most basic needs in communities across Wyoming,” says Mary Ellbogen Garland, President and Chair of the Ellbogen Foundation.
The Flexible Funding grant dollars were intended to address one-time or extra costs or expenses facing the organizations. Grants should help organizations meet their missions by solving problems, closing gaps, and otherwise accelerating work and impact in the community. It is important that organizations share a program or operations need and coherently align a solution that requires funds.
“It’s important to me that we continue to provide the framework and foundation for successful collaborations and solutions to hunger statewide, which is why the opportunity to provide additional dollars in the form of flexible funding grants was truly a Wyoming solution to a Wyoming challenge,” says First Lady Jennie Gordon. “I applaud the John P. Ellbogen Foundation for developing innovative and coherent solutions for anti-hunger organizations statewide.”
Several organizations applied for the inaugural Wyoming Hunger Initiative Flexible Funding Grant and the Initiative is proud to announce that 32 applications were funded. These grant applications were reviewed by a committee that consisted of a Wyoming Governor’s Residence (Wyoming Hunger Initiative) board member, a Wyoming Hunger Initiative Regional Director, a representative from the John P. Ellbogen Foundation, and a graduate student from the University of Wyoming.