Hendricks County – In celebration of 20 years of service to Hendricks County, the Hendricks County Community Foundation is presenting $1,000 grants to County nonprofits every 20 days in 2016. These 20th Anniversary Board Engagement Grants allow each member of the HCCF Board of Directors to designate a Hendricks County nonprofit that is important to them and to Hendricks County.
The third HCCF 20th Anniversary Grant was presented to the WYRZ 98.9 FM station on behalf of Board member Teresa Ray. Ray chose WYRZ 98.9 FM because she serves on the board for this organization and has seen up close the strains of getting a project of this size started.
WYRZ-LP FM is a non-profit, publicly supported radio station dedicated to connecting Hendricks County and the surrounding community through unique, high quality music, performance and public affairs programming that inform, educate, entertain and inspire. WYRZ-LP FM is also a dynamic educational resource, providing local high school and college students with valuable, real world experience in radio and media operations. “Being married to the Executive Director of WYRZ, Shane, has given me a front row seat to seeing his dream come true of serving the community in this way. This project is very important to the community and is exciting to see the community start to take hold of this nonprofit, local FM station,” said Teresa Ray.
Shane Ray was excited to be a recipient of a special initiative grant from HCCF. “This money will go to promote the station and our events. We have several special events we host that are open to the community including our Blue Jeans and Bow Ties event coming up on April 29th. We are all about investing back in the community and making it a better place,” said Shane Ray.
Shane notes that the partnership between WYRZ 98.9 and HCCF has been instrumental in helping the radio station get to where they are in such a short time, “It definitely would have taken longer for us to get on the air without the help of HCCF. We have received support from grants, endless advice, use of their giving platform HCGives.org and other assistance that has been amazing,” said Shane Ray.
WYRZ 98.9 would like to invite all community members to their 2nd annual “Blue Jeans & Bow Ties” dinner dance. This fundraiser will be held on Friday, April 29th from 7-10pm at West Chase Golf Club. The evening will include dinner from Dawson’s Too, DJ Troy Hanna, silent auction, wine pull, photo booth, 50/50 drawing and more. Tickets are $50 and can be purchased at: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/2nd-annual-blue-jeans-and-bow-tie-dinner-dance-tickets-21316109056
The HCCF 20th Anniversary Grants are a celebration of the Community Foundation’s 20 years of work and partnerships made possible by generous donors and supporters. “This 20th Anniversary grant presented by Teresa Ray was exciting because it demonstrates the variety of services HCCF can provide in Hendricks County, particularly for new nonprofits. We are continuing to provide much needed funding and services to nonprofits of all sizes and tenure. It is also exciting to see families partnering together as the Rays do in giving back to a community they love. That’s really at the heart of what we are about at HCCF: connecting people with local causes that matter to them. That’s what the Community Foundation has done for 20 years and we look to continue in that for years to come,” said William Rhodehamel, HCCF Executive Director.
