Foundation advisory board chair Christa Bruce, left, awards $2,500 to Ketchikan’s Special Olympics program. (Photo courtesy Ketchikan Community Foundation)

Foundation advisory board chair Christa Bruce, left, awards $2,500 to Ketchikan’s Special Olympics program. (Photo courtesy Ketchikan Community Foundation)

About three years after forming, the Ketchikan Community Foundation handed out its first grants to local nonprofit agencies on Friday.

According to the Foundation, about $11,000 was distributed to four Ketchikan organizations.

Those groups are:

  • Special Olympics Alaska, which received $2,500 to fund travel and training for News Tileparticipants.
  • Ketchikan Theatre Ballet, which received $2,500, for scholarships to economically challenged youth.
  • Ketchikan Volunteer Hospice, which received $5,000 to provide bereavement training for volunteers.
  • Ketchikan Area Arts and Humanities Council, which received $1,264 to help 10 local teachers travel to to the Basic Arts Institute in Juneau.

The Foundation’s endowment fund has grown over the past few years to about $260,000. Earnings from the fund will be used to provide grants for community projects.

Disclosure: KRBD was one of the applicants for a Foundation grant.