Iowa Conference United Women in Faith has awarded 30 Barbara Csomay Be Bold Grants totaling $25,500 for 2023.
That is in addition to $50,000 each awarded for 2023 to the United Women in Faith National Mission Institutions of Bidwell-Riverside Center and Hawthorn Hill in Des Moines (now Families Forward), and to the United Methodist Church camping program in Iowa. That brings the total to $175,500 in grants awarded.
The grants are made possible by major funds from the estate of Barbara Csomay (SO-may), a longtime United Methodist Women member from Kanawha, that were designated to Iowa Conference UMW (now United Women in Faith). Csomay, a retired music teacher and band director, died in 2015. Barbara Csomay Be Bold Grants are available each year for local UWFaith units to expand their ministry and mission in their communities and for individual women in ministry to be able to participate in educational events or classes.
The 22 grants awarded to individual UWFaith units ranged from $500 to $1,000 and totaled $19,000. Eight grants to women in ministry totaled $6,500.
Congratulations to the units receiving grants: Aldersgate (Urbandale), Armstrong, Bloomfield, Buffalo, Cedar Rapids Salem, Creston, Danville, Drakesville, Edgewood Trinity, Garner, Holstein, Iowa City St. Mark’s, Lake View, Marshalltown Hope, Mason City First, Ogden, Peterson, Ruthven, Sioux City First, Solon, Sutherland, and Waterloo First.
Their projects cover a wide variety of ministries: hygienic products for schools; refrigeration for a food pantry; blankets and books for children; a school Caring Closet; diaper bags for young moms; purses for Zambia girls; and a speaker honorarium for a community women’s event, and others.
And congratulations to the women receiving individual grants: Deb Copple, Pam Hamrick, Joni Hickey, Linda Jantz, Betty Kiboko, Sam Mack, Nancy Peterson, and Nancy Steckleberg.
Their grants will help them cover the costs of seminary classes, Mission u, and other educational events.
For 2024, grants of up to $1,000 will be awarded to units that begin a new project that involves multiple members. Grants of up to $500 will be awarded to units that are planning to repeat a project or have an ongoing project that involves multiple members. The committee is re-emphasizing that the purpose of the grants is to energize units and engage them in their communities through new initiatives. Individual grants to women also will be awarded. Application forms for 2024 grants will be available early next year.
For more information, contact conference UWFaith President Gladys Alvarez at [email protected] or committee members Helen Pollock, Nancy Stockdale, Mary Taeger, Barb Oakland, or Marcia Young.