GILROY — On Aug. 13, Gilroy’s City Team Ministries, South
County Compassion Center will be presented with a $10,000 grant
from ConAgra Foods/Gilroy Foods Company.
GILROY — On Aug. 13, Gilroy’s City Team Ministries, South County Compassion Center will be presented with a $10,000 grant from ConAgra Foods/Gilroy Foods Company.
The grant is part of the nationwide 2004 ConAgra Foods Community Service Awards, which is given annually to nonprofit organizations that provide exceptional community service in areas where ConAgra Foods operates.
“Our budget is totally dependent on private donors and donations from the communities,” said Carol Smith, City Team’s Director of Family Services.
City Team Ministries, located on 7449 Eigleberry Street, focuses on providing services for kids in low-income families. In addition to annual holiday food and gift drives, the organization works year-round to provide basic services for children. These include free food and clothing year round, and free health clinics at various times throughout the year.
“We try to teach them at least the ABC’s of good health,” said Smith.
Currently, the organization is focused on their annual back to school drive, where they collect backpacks and other school supplies and give them to children.
The City Team Ministries was nominated by ConAgra employee Kristie Loftis, who has volunteered at City Team for many years. Loftis works at the ConAgra Food Ingredients Company on Highway152, just east of Gilroy.
While the organization doesn’t have a specific plan for the money, they want to use the award largely to purchase new transportation vehicles. Currently, they are looking at a larger 10-15 passenger van to drive kids involved in City Team’s summer day camps, rather than chartering a bus or relying on parents.
“We really need our own wheels,” said Smith about the van.
In addition, they want a vehicle that they can use solely for picking up and dropping off donations. They recently purchased a warehouse in which to keep donated items, but are unable to make full use of it because of the difficulty in transporting goods from drop-off locations to the warehouse.
“None of the money will go to administrator salaries,” said Smith. “It’s all going to our programs.”
