Augusta National aids community
Golf club has donated more than $29 million to charities since 1998
Besides staging one of the most prestigious tournaments in golf, the Augusta National Golf Club has made other noteworthy contributions.
Over the past nine years, the organization has made philanthropic donations that exceeded $29 million to local and national charities.
"Charitable giving is something that is important to the Masters," said Billy Payne, the chairman of Augusta National Golf Club and the Masters Tournament.
In 2006, the club distributed $3.4 million. The First Tee national youth development program received $1 million, and the Community Foundation for the Central Savannah River Area received $1.25 million.
The foundation annually awards agencies in Aiken, Edgefield, Richmond, Columbia, Burke and McDuffie counties with grants to support or enhance their projects. Since 1997, the Augusta National has provided money for the foundation's unrestricted funds, which awards approximately 25 community groups up to $15,000, said Lee Smith, the president of the Community Foundation.
"They (the National) are truly a great corporate citizen," he said. "I can't say enough good things about what they've done for this community."
In 2005, the Augusta Players theater company received a $15,000 grant for its Artreach Theatre program, which puts on discount productions of its regular-season, main-stage plays for schools. It also provides teachers with lesson plans that help them incorporate the play into the curriculum.
With their grant money, the company was able to buy the rights, sets, props, and get the required lighting and sound scripts to stage The Diary of Anne Frank for the Artreach program.
More than 2,300 students from 10 counties in South Carolina and Georgia saw the show. Beth Borke, Artreach's director, said producing the show would have been a huge strain without Community Foundation money.
"To put on a whole other production costs so much, and we probably would have tried to have gotten other funding. But we absolutely could not have done it without a grant," Ms. Borke said. "This absolutely made it possible because to raise the price (of tickets) would have defeated the purpose of the Artreach program."
The Players staged the show again this year.
"I know the kids, they don't know where the money comes from, but they know it is something local being done for them in the community," Ms. Borke said. "And that tells them that their community wants to support them, and that's an important message to the children."
The Boys & Girls Clubs of Augusta received money this past year to help with arts programming at its Thomson site. The club also received a grant in 2002 for a job-readiness program it held for teens.
Kam Kyzer, interim executive director, said the money will be used in a partnership with The Art Factory to provide weekly instruction in ballet, sculpting and painting.
"The Boys & Girls Club is such an incredible organization," Ms. Kyzer said. "We serve over 3,000 kids each year. We couldn't do it without local support. It's absolutely incredible to have the National by way of the foundation invest. It's definitely worthwhile."
Mr. Smith of The Community Foundation said his group appreciates the monetary gifts it receives each year from the golf club.
"We support so many different types of organizations that touch so many people - whether children or the elderly, the homeless, we just touch all walks of life," he said. "It sure is an honor to be a conduit for their (the Augusta National) philanthropy."
The chance to give back is something those at the National say is important to them.
"Our association with the Community Foundation of the CSRA allows our donated funds to be used locally to help those in need," Mr. Payne said. "We are a part of this community and are pleased that we can make a positive difference in the lives of many people."
Reach Kamille Bostick at (706) 823-3223 or kamille.bostick@augustachronicle.com.
CHARITABLE GIVING
In 2006, the Augusta National Golf Club distributed approximately $3.4 million.
Here is how the money breaks down.
$1 million - The First Tee, national youth development program.
$1. 25 million - The Community Foundation for the Central Savannah River Area.
$1.15 million -The major golf organizations, The First Tee of Augusta, the Tiger Woods Foundation and the U.S. Golf Hurricane Katrina Relief Fund.
Source: The Augusta National Golf Club
In 2006, The Community Foundation awarded unrestricted grants to:
- Action Ministries Inc. (Augusta Urban Ministries): $15,000 for the purchase of a new box truck for the Furniture Bank.
- Aiken Boxing Club/Aiken Youth Development Center P.A.L.: $12,200 for the Learning Center's Career Preparation and Job Readiness program.
- Alzheimer's Association Georgia Chapter-Augusta Regional Office: $15,000 for training workshops to families and professional caregivers.
- Area Churches Together Serving (ACTS): $10,000 for food to dislocated workers.
- The Art Factory Inc.: $7,000 for visual arts instruction to about 120 fifth-graders; it will include Augusta's first Children's Sculpture Garden at Pendleton King Park.
- Augusta Canal Authority: $14,472.50 to begin school-enrichment programs about Post-Reconstruction Southern history and the ecology of the Piedmont Fall Line.
- Augusta Choral Society Inc: $3,600 for the purchase of platforms of various heights to be used by conductors and soloists.
- Augusta Mini Theatre Inc: $15,000 for tuition assistance (costumes, props, scripts, books, etc.) to 15 financially challenged students to enroll in instruction.
- Augusta Museum of History: $15,000 for the permanent exhibition the Augusta Story.
- Augusta Opera: $14,000 for an outreach program that will take opera to under-served audiences in the area.
- Augusta Restoration Shop: $15,000 to purchase an open-face filter paint booth that will provide a cleaner painting environment.
- Boys & Girls Clubs of Augusta Inc.: $15,000 for culture enrichment and fine arts to at-risk youth in Thomson .
- Care Pregnancy Center: $15,000 to enhance the "Adopt-A-Mommy Program" that offers friendship, encouragement and support to new mothers and mothers-to-be.
- Child Enrichment Inc: $15,000 to continue providing counseling, advocacy and forensic interview services for sexually abused children.
- The Family Y: $14,725.25 for the purchase of supplies, staff training and implementation of the Y KidzFit, a fitness and nutrition program in five after-school sites.
- First Baptist Church of Waynesboro, Ga. (Center for New Beginnings): $15,000 for "shadowing" services that will allow an adult to attend a child-care facility with the child to help teach the child and teacher strategies for successful participation with peers.
- Friends of the Court Inc: $15,000 to help fund the Burke County DUI/Drug Court Program, which focuses on the substance abuse issue underlying the repetitive patterns of habitual offenders.
- Kids Restart Inc.: $15,000 to fund utilities, client transportation, supplies and salaries associated with supervised visitations, parenting classes and family enrichment activities.
- Lynndale Inc: $15,000 for an objectives trainer who will work one-on-one with developmentally disabled people at the job site.
- MACH Academy Inc.: $15,000 to implement the "Healthy Bodies, Healthy Minds" project at the Fleming Tennis Center.
- Miracle Making Ministries Inc.: $15,000 for the non-medical patient support services, such as prescription assistance, distribution of diabetic supplies and health education material.
- The Salvation Army of Augusta: $15,000 for the programming and expansion of the "Enterprise Team," a skills program facilitating re-entry into society after homelessness.
- Southeastern Natural Sciences Academy Inc.: $15,000 for the Rivers at Risk program, which builds on the education and outreach aspects of the Savannah River and to building a prototype of the living watershed.
- University Health Care Foundation Inc.: $8,100 to provide at least 1,000 prostate screenings to area men in collaboration with the Aiken Chapter of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, which will promote the event.
- Wimberly House Ministries Inc.: $10,000 for after-school program and summer camp program.
Source: The Community Foundation.
For more information on The Community Foundation visit www.cfcsra.org, e-mail info@cfcsra.org.
