By Sentinel Staff
Grants totaling $94,627 from the Sitka Alaska Permanent Charitable Trust were awarded Tuesday night to 15 Sitka nonprofits.
The award amounts were decided by the seven-member SAPCT advisory board, which had heard presentations from the grant seekers the previous evening.
Awards are made in the general categories of science and community betterment. They are:
Sitka High School Science Department $23,072; Sitka Sound Science Center $16,736; SHS Foods and Nutrition $2,786; Sitka High School CTE $3,686; 3 to 5 Preschool $7,331; Mt. Edgecumbe Preschool $2,536.
Also, Sitka Music Festival $3,357; Brave Heart Volunteers $8,750; Sitka High Best Buddies $2,634; Artchange, Inc. $2,250; Sitka Fine Arts Camp $7,929; Sitka Imagination Library $2,357; Outer Coast $2,437; SAIL $6,614; and
Sitka High drama, debate, forensics team $2,143
The Sitka Alaska Permanent Charitable Trust was established by Alaska Pulp Corp. in 1995 with initial funding of $3 million, as settlement of an environmental lawsuit. The deed of trust assigns positions on the advisory board to Sitka residents holding various positions in the community: the newspaper editor, Sitka High School principal, the president of Sheldon Jackson College, the executive director of NSRAA, and a former Sitka mayor chosen by the other members. Ex officio members are the commanding officer of Coast Guard Air Station Sitka and the Sitka High student body president.
With the closing of Sheldon Jackson College, that board position was assigned to the director of the University of Alaska Southeast, Sitka campus.
Wells Fargo Bank is trustee of the endowment fund.
All seven members of the advisory board took part in the grant awards Monday and Tuesday. They are Thad Poulson, Laura Rogers, Scott Wagner, Math Trafton, Mim McConnell, Cmdr. Michael Frawley, and Chloe Cagle.
