Friends for Charitable Giving (FCG), a nonprofit corporation organized and operated by volunteers exclusively for charitable purposes, is pleased to announce that $79,000 in grants were recently awarded to several local charities. Most of the money was given to local charitable organizations involved in food distribution to the needy including Green Harvest Food Pantry, Plainfield Area Interfaith Food Pantry, Bags of Hope and the Plainfield Lions Club.

Other grant recipients were RichEnDeed, which provides household items for needy individuals, St. Vincent de Paul-St. Mary Immaculate Conference, which offers financial assistance for those unable to pay their essential expenses, District 202 Foundation for Excellence for college scholarships for high school seniors and Ready Set Ride Therapeutic Riding Facility which provides equine recreational activities to terminally ill or special needs children.

Approximately $110,000 in net income from the 2020 Plainfield Giving Gala, which was sponsored by FCG, is being used to fund the grants. Ron Kazmar, Chairman of FCG stated “Unfortunately we could not fund all of the worthwhile grant requests we received in this first phase of grant giving because we decided to prioritize our giving to those with the most immediate needs arising from the COVID-19 pandemic.” FCG plans to do a second phase of grant giving within the next two to three months.

For more information about the grants and to download an application go to http://plainfieldgivinggala.org Click on Grant Guidelines and Application.