Dr. Lyle F. Renodin Foundation

December 14, 2016June 28, 2017

Child care at the Olean Family YMCA gets a helping hand with $3.5K grant

Published by the Olean Times Herald on Wednesday, Dec. 14, 2016
By KATE DAY SAGER, Olean Times Herald

OLEAN — Finding good, affordable child care can sometimes determine if a parent is able to hold down a job or not.

Because there has been a greater need for child care in the community, officials with the Dr. Lyle F. Renodin Foundation have provided a $3,500 grant to the Olean Family YMCA to provide child care scholarships for a number of young families.

YMCA officials said the grant will directly support individuals in the community who are unable to participate in the licensed child care and early learning center programs at the YMCA without financial
assistance.

“The Renodin Foundation helps the YMCA meet its mission of promoting Christian principles that develop healthy spirit, mind and body for all,” said Jeff Alevy, CEO of the YMCA of the Twin Tiers. “Nobody is turned away from participating at the YMCA without
an opportunity to receive financial assistance.”

In addition, he said the YMCA does not withhold services due to the inability to pay.

Alevy said last year the YMCA provided more than $380,000 in scholarship assistance to over 1,000 individuals locally. Included in those helped were 300 families who needed child care in Olean.

“In a community where seven out of 10 children at the Y’s early learning center can only attend as a result of financial subsidy, the Y focuses on developing youth capacities to learn and socialize,” Alevy said. “The Renodin Foundation is a blessing to our community and to the families the YMCA serves.”

Laura Whitford, president of the Renodin Foundation, said the organization has helped the YMCA in the past through grants that provided scholarships for memberships. This is the first time, however, the YMCA has been helped by the Renodin Foundation with a child care grant.

The Renodin Foundation, affiliated with the Franciscan Sisters of Allegany, bestows grants to nonprofit organizations that provide aid to those who need assistance. Grant applications are accepted Feb. 1 and Aug. 1 from organizations in Cattaraugus and Allegany counties in New York, and McKean County in Pennsylvania.

“The YMCA has been a longstanding grant recipient of the Renodin Foundation and this year they indicated a particular need for their child care services,” Whitford explained. She said the Franciscan Sisters are very concerned with unemployment and underemployment. As a result, the grant is expected to help families go to work and have peace of mind while their children are cared for at a licensed day care facility.

“This is a very critical need in our community that children are safe and cared for while their parents are at work,” Whitford added.

A YMCA staff member shared her personal testimony of the YMCA’s financial assistance program.

“Without the program, I would not have been able to find high-quality child care for my infant,” the woman said. “While enrolling my child in the child care center, I discovered they were hiring. After completing the interview process, I was hired, and I started a new journey with my child and my new employer.”

The woman said the availability of financial assistance at the YMCA not only changed her life, but her daughter’s as well.

For information on the Olean Family YMCA’s child care financial assistance program, contact Mary Miller, executive director of child
care, at 701-1381 or visit www.yourymca.org.

Financial assistance for YMCA membership also is available to those who qualify. Contact Lisa Szucs, membership director, at 373-2400. Donations to the Renodin Foundation, which provides 100 percent of its donations to nonprofit organizations and agencies, may be sent to 115 E. Main St., Allegany, NY 14706.

Photo: Renodin Foundation President Laura Whitford (from left), met with Mary Miller,YMCA executive director of Child Care, Sr. Marigene Kennedy, Renodin board member, and Jeff Alevy, CEO of the YMCA of the Twin Tiers, during the presentation of a $3,500 Renodin grant to aid the YMCA’s licensed child care program.

October 21, 2016June 28, 2017

YWCA Bradford presents gift baskets to women leaving shelter

Published in the Bradford Era on Friday, Oct. 21, 2016
By AMBER TURBA, Era Reporter

For several years, the YWCA Bradford Housing and Employment Services program has offered safe and secure emergency housing to women and women with children who have nowhere else to stay. The shelter is designed to be a temporary sanctuary.

Now, the YWCA is offering gift baskets to assist women once they leave that sanctuary.

“The program we’re starting involves what we call ‘transition packs’,” said Housing and Employment Services Shelter Manager Amber Frontino on Thursday afternoon. “Each pack will be designated to women and women with children once they leave the shelter, as a means of assisting in the transition process of getting back up on their feet and living on their own.”

The packs include a variety of basic-needs items such as garbage bags, dishes, pot holders, oven mitts, dish cloths, tissues, paper towels, toilet paper, shower curtains, shower curtain rings, disinfectants and cleaners, bleach, soap, sponges, mops, buckets and
brooms.

“It’s a lot of basic items that homeowners often take for granted,” said YWCA Executive Director Vanessa Castano. “When starting out, primary concerns for these women include paying rent and utilities and purchasing food for their families, and a lot of times there just isn’t enough money left over for basic need items — especially when the woman is living paycheck to paycheck.”

“The goal is to alleviate some of that stress,” Frontino added.

The transition packs were made possible through a grant program from the Dr. Lyle F. Renodin Foundation. The YWCA met the Foundation’s grant requirements of being a non-profit organization that possess a 501(c)(3) classification and being located in one of the counties of Allegany, Cattaraugus and McKean.

On Thursday afternoon, the YWCA, located on West Corydon Street, welcomed Renodin Foundation President Laura Whitford to see the results of the program supported by the grant.

“The focus of the Renodin Foundation is toward using its energy and resources to improve the quality of life of our poor and marginalized neighborhoods,” Whitford told The Era. “We provide grants for programs and projects whose public charitable purposes are carried out in a manner consistent with that focus — and these transition packs here at the YWCA are a perfect example.”

Through the grant, Frontino was able to see her idea for basic-needs baskets realized, with the resources available to create up to 35 potential transition packs.

“We requested the resources necessary to create 25 of the basic-needs baskets at $100 per basket,” Frontino explained. “However, I was able to find cost-effective items for $75, and the other $25 will go toward additional custom purchases for the packs that are specifically suited to meet the recipient’s needs. So we were ultimately able to provide even more packs than was originally expected — which is awesome.”

The transition packs themselves, Frontino added, are also put together based on specific needs.

“Some women have dishes and need more towels, or have excess amount of toilet paper and no paper towels, so we try to tailor the transition pack based on the recipient’s specific needs in order to best serve them once they leave the shelter,” she said. “We’re going to use the funds from the grant to purchase all of the items and then divide them up as they are needed. The additional custom purchases are an extra way to really make sure these women and their children
have what they’re going to need to begin starting over or, for some, starting off.”

A one-year program, the grant should be able to cover the basic-needs items to create transition packs for every woman in the shelter, according to Frontino.

“I think the women who are going to receive these gifts are really going to be so appreciative, because the need is definitely there,”
she said. “I hear their worries, their concerns, and I know that it’s going to make all of the difference when they can walk out of here with something to help keep them going.”

Castano, as well as Whitford, shared the sentiment.

“Often we have people leaving here with only the clothes on their backs,” Castano said. “So to be able to provide some of the necessary
items toward having a home and maintaining a life is what’s really important about this program that Amber (Frontino) came up with and, essentially, made happen. And we’re also very thankful to Laura
(Whitford) and the Renodin Foundation for supporting us and, ultimately, the people we aim to protect in our community.”

“We’re all in this together,” Whitford said. “And while the Foundation was more than happy to approve the funds for the Bradford YWCA’s program, having the opportunity to provide the resources for a person’s self-sufficiency is priceless, and that’s what these transition
packs are going to do. So ‘kudos’ to Amber and the Bradford YWCA
staff for all that they do, and have done, to make this happen.”

Photo above: A trio of ladies works to put together some gift baskets at the YWCA Bradford on West Corydon Street on Thursday afternoon. From left is Laura Whitford, the Renodin Foundation president, Amber Frontino, Housing and Employment Services shelter manager, and Vanessa Castano, executive director of the YWCA. For several years, the YWCA’s Housing and Employment Services program has offered safe and secure emergency housing to women and women with children who have nowhere else to stay. The shelter is designed to be a temporary sanctuary. Now, the YWCA is offering gift baskets to assist women once they leave that sanctuary.

October 14, 2016June 28, 2017

Renodin Foundation grant awarded to Ischua Union Church

Published in the Olean Times Herald on Friday, Oct. 14, 2016
By DEB WUETHRICH, Special to the Olean Times Herald

ISCHUA — Ischua Union Church’s Fund for the Needy got a big boost this year with a $2,000 award from the Dr. Lyle F. Renodin Foundation.

Linda Pepperdine, a trustee on the foundation board, was on hand during services last Sunday to award the check to the Rev. Richard “Buck” Young.

The church established its Fund for the Needy in 1995 and since then has offered more than $20,000 in assistance toward immediate needs for families in the community. Families and individuals have received help in such areas as bringing a fuel bill current so a new delivery could be made to an empty tank, gas cards for medical appointments, winter coats for children and other needs.

“This is the second year we have received funds from the Renodin Foundation,” said John Ames, a church member who wrote the grants.

Last year’s award was $1,500. He added that a committee that includes church members Sue Wilbur and Melody Zampogna makes recipient decisions. Ames said Wilbur was instrumental in making the initial connection with the Renodin Foundation. Pepperdine confirmed that she and Wilbur work together at The ReHabilitation Center.

“One day Sue was talking about the things this little church has done,” Pepperdine said. “Because I’m on this board, I thought, ‘Maybe I can help.”

While the church needed a sound system, Pepperdine said the foundation does not fund capital expenditures. When Wilbur mentioned the Fund for the Needy, however, she thought it might
be a good fit between the organizations.

“Our mission statement sets very specific terms to help the underprivileged,” Pepperdine said. “The organization has to have nonprofit status.”

Through a back-and-forth process, Ames and Pepperdine consulted, which allowed the church to learn the parameters for eligibility and application.

“She also visited us to share information and that helped a lot,” Ames
said.

The fund helps people in Cattaraugus and Allegany counties in New York and McKean County in Pennsylvania.

“It comes from money that was invested when St. Francis Hospital closed and the Franciscan Sisters started the foundation,” Pepperdine said. “They are the unsung heroes in the community, and they don’t ask for a lot of publicity regarding the people they help.”

The Renodin Foundation has offered assistance totaling nearly $1 million since 2002.

“I’ve seen a lot of good that’s been done,” Pepperdine said. “Since I’m not personally able to help much financially, one of the ways I can help is with my time, making connections like the one Sue and I made and offering people like John and the church the tools they need to submit a grant.”

Young, in his sixth year at Ischua Union Church, was pleased with the award.

“The gifts that they offered are so much appreciated,” he said. “To me, I believe it helps with the continuing camaraderie between Ischua Union Church and the surrounding community. These gifts from the foundation are really special to those who need them and
receive them.”

Young and his wife, Myrna, were reciprocal recipients from community members a couple of months ago during a fundraiser to help defray their medical expenses. Young is still undergoing testing at the Cleveland Clinic to determine eligibility for a lung transplant.

“After this last series of tests, they’ll let me know,” he said. “Either way, I’m thankful for every day.”

Photo above: Ischua Union Church received a grant for $2,000 from the Dr. Lyle F. Renodin Foundation this year. Funds will help support the church’s Funds for the Needy program. Marking the moment are Sue Wilbur (from left), who serves on a church committee to determine distribution priorities; Linda Pepperdine, trustee of the Renodin Foundation; and the Rev. Richard “Buck” Young.