Summer is the season of giving for the Weinberg Foundation.
Following a luncheon at the Camden Club on Tuesday, the Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Foundation Inc. allocated $10,000 grants to 17 Baltimore nonprofit organizations as part of its first employee giving program.
“Each [Weinberg] employee chooses one organization and presents it to the trustees who review the grants,” said Denise Stonesifer, grants intake manager for the foundation.
All the grants that were reviewed received approval. Recipients included local organizations such as The House of Ruth, Way Station, YANA, Urban Leadership Institute and the YMCA of Central Maryland. The grants enable organizations to expand their efforts in the community.
The Baltimore-based Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Foundation is dedicated to serving the poor by supporting charitable organizations in Baltimore and around the world that provide shelter, nutrition, health and socialization, or by enhancing an individual?s ability to meet those needs. According to its Web site, it has assets of about $2 billion.
Co-founder Harry Weinberg got his start selling trinkets to parade-goers celebrating the end of World War I in downtown Baltimore at age 10. In his 20s, the entrepreneur helped German Jews escape to America by pledging financial support.
That legacy continues to affect many local nonprofits.
Sidney Ford, founder of YANA ? You Are Never Alone ? a Baltimore nonprofit organization that reaches out to women who are prostitutes and involved in human trafficking, received a $10,000 grant. The group helps 3,500 women each year.
“[We work with] victims of prostitution, and these girls, these women, have lives that are worth living and supporting,” Ford said. “Even though the day is hard, tomorrow will be a little easier.”
Also receiving $10,000 was the Urban Leadership Institute, which mentors and teaches young black males in the city.
“We want to show boys going into sixth grade that their lives are more than Park Heights and Edmondson Avenue,” said David Miller, chief visionary officer of the Urban Leadership Institute.
