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Seventeen local charities that help low-income families, at-risk children, and homeless and disabled people are getting tens of thousands of dollars in support from the Charlotte-based Sisters of Mercy of North Carolina Foundation.
In all, the foundation unveiled $1.7 million in grants, supporting programs operated by 35 nonprofits in the Carolinas.
The recipients include well-known charities such as the Council for Children's Rights, Second Harvest Food Bank, YWCA of Central Carolinas and Thompson Child & Family Focus.
Among the largest grants: $125,000 for Care Ring; $125,000 for KIPP Academy Charlotte; and $126,000 for Communities In Schools' High Impact High School Initiative.
However, the foundation made a point of also giving to smaller charities, such as Charlotte's Samaritan House, which has a total annual budget of just $267,000.
It received $40,000 for its recently expanded effort to help homeless people recuperating from surgery. The charity moved into a larger building in June that now allows it to take in patients in wheelchairs.
"We thought we might take in 25 people in wheelchairs the first year, but it has been 25 in the first six months," said Brad Goforth, executive director of Samaritan House. "And they are staying longer than we anticipated because they are dealing with broken bones. These are people who would have been recuperating on the streets or in shelters."
