Pay It Forward Grant Winners Announced In Strongsville

STRONGSVILLE, OH — For the third straight year, the Team Strongsville Kelly Kinney Pay It Forward grants will be awarded to students hoping to complete community-oriented service projects. This year, a total of $3,000 in grants will be awarded to nine projects. Over three years, Team Strongsville has awarded $9,000 in grants through the program.

The grants are available to students who live in or attend school in Strongsville. Applicants must be ages 4 to 18 to qualify.

This year's slate of projects includes some heartwarming efforts to provide for vulnerable residents and neighbors. Here's a look at the approved projects:

• a 4-year-old collecting items to aid two elderly women in assisted living,
• bringing entertainment to the children at Rainbow Babies & Children's Hospital,
• providing baseball gloves to kids who couldn't otherwise afford them,
• second and fifth graders that wants to grow vegetables for the Cleveland Food Bank,
• a donation of books to the Strongsville public school libraries,
• a donation of supplies to Strongsville teachers,
• and fundraising for the family of Tommy Handloser, a young man that is battling two types of cancer.
• A ninth grant will go to Girl Scout Troop 70124 to help create an educational brochure or pamphlet outlining local food sourcing and environmental impacts of grocery stores and farming.

"It is just amazing how our community steps up in any kind of situation," said Team Strongsville President Collette Fine. "It’s nice to know that there are so many giving people in Strongsville."

The grant program was started in 2014 to honor Kelly Kinney, a 12-year-old Strongsville girl that fought a short but intense battle with cancer. In her time, Kinney was a valued member of the community that participated in several service projects to improve the lives of others. The Pay It Forward grants are designed to help students follow in her footsteps.

Previous projects have included the creation of a sensory room for mentally delayed children at Berea Guidestone, donating school supplies to the Strongsville Food Bank, creating fun bags for chemotherapy patients, and buying stuffed animals for police to give away to children. The only thing Team Strongsville asks for in return is a synopsis of how the grant was implemented and photos from the project.

Through the first three years of the program, every grant request has been fulfilled, a point of pride for Fine and her team.

"There are so many kids in our community that want to give back," Fine told Patch. "A lot of these grants turn into family programs, with families working together to make these projects happen."

For the first time in the grant program's history, Team Strongsville did not host its traditional Opening Day fundraiser and instead collaborated with several partners, including Strongsville High School, the Strongsville Athletic Boosters Club, the Strongsville High School Athletic Academy, and others. The diversification led to more people becoming aware of the grant. Within 12 hours of posting the announcement of grant recipients, Fine said more than 4,000 people saw the post.

"We will definitely bring the grants back again next year," she said. "We might do a combination of the two fundraising methods, with the Opening Day party coming back. We'll have to see."

More information on this year's slate of grant-funded projects is available below.

Photo from Team Strongsville