The Viking Foundation of Lincoln

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We are celebrating our annual Power Reading week this week and students will receive their first book to take home. Throughout the week next week, each of our Power Read programs will designate a time to celebrate and appreciate all of our mentors, students and sponsors that help make our programming possible. There will be special celebrations at each programming site which will include student book give-a-ways, fun activities for mentors and students, and opportunities to see our Power Read program in action.

As our initial sponsor for our Howe Power Read program, please plan to join us this Friday, October 25 from 11:15-11:45 AM at our special Power Reading celebration.

Please also share the attached Power Reading program information with anyone you may know who may be interested in volunteering or supporting our reading programs! The full program schedule is also located on our website at https://everybodywinsiowa.org/program-schedule/.

For Immediate Release

The Viking Foundation of Lincoln announced its recent funding of 16 grants—including 9 in the Lincoln area—totaling $80,000 in support of nonprofit organizations in three states.

The following Lincoln-area grants totaling $40,000 were funded:

$3,000 to ACLU-Nebraska—to support analysis of Lincoln Public Schools’ sex education program,

$5,000 to Appleseed-Nebraska—for its Health Care Access Program to help fund staff to implement Nebraska Medicaid Expansion,

$4,000 to Autism Family Network—to provide activities well-suited to people with autism and their families,

$2,000 to Center for Illegal Immigration Assistance—to help fund staff costs for completing renewals (DACA) and other immigration-related legal work,

$3,000 to Center for People in Need—to provide food for families and individuals in need,

$5,000 to Child Advocacy Center—to help fund forensic interviews for children alleging abuse,

$5,000 to Good Neighbor Community Center—to provide food for families and individuals in need,

$8,000 to Horses for Healing—to fund equine-facilitated learning programs for youth in foster care, or with physical, emotional and cognitive challenges,

$5,000 to Nebraska Children and Families Foundation—to support camp costs for bringing together siblings separated by different foster care placements.

In addition to these contributions, The Viking Foundation awarded a total of $20,000 to these nonprofit organizations in Denver County, Colorado: Bella Boutique, Cross Purpose, Remerg and Wee Cycle; and $20,000 to nonprofits in Polk County, Iowa: Des Moines Pastoral Counseling, Dress for Success, Des Moines, and New Horizons Adult Day Center.

The Viking Foundation was created in 2012 to help improve and enrich the lives of individuals – especially children – who are less fortunate. The foundation provides charitable grants annually to 501(c)(3) organizations in three counties, including Lancaster. The grants are directed to those who are challenged with issues related to poverty, housing, gender, education, mental and physical health, and others.

The 2020 grant proposal submission deadline is Oct. 1. Detailed information about the foundation, and its history, values and proposal guidelines, can be found at vikingfoundation.webs.com.

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For additional information, please contact Roseann Christensen, public information officer, Viking Foundation Board of Directors, at [email protected]

https://journalstar.com/giving/viking-foundation-recognizes-nebraska-appleseed-s-commitment-to-justice/article_5305de95-d289-5c99-943f-51484e66fa6c.html

 

Nebraska Appleseed, a nonprofit legal advocacy organization, was founded in May 1996 in response to prohibitions placed on legal aid organizations against class action litigation and policy advocacy work. Dedicated to justice and opportunity for all, Nebraska Appleseed has grown from a small band of part-time employees to a full-time staff of 38 – attorneys, organizers, policy experts and advocates – focused on big issues for Nebraskans like child welfare, immigration, affordable health care and poverty.

 

The bulk of Appleseed’s funding comes from grant makers such as Viking Foundation of Lincoln.

 

A Nebraska philanthropic organization, the Viking Foundation is in its seventh year of providing modest annual grants to a broad spectrum of charitable nonprofit agencies benefiting people, primarily in Lincoln.

 

 

“There was no real ‘aha’ lightbulb moment in my creation of the Viking Foundation,” said Steven Eggland, president. “Rather, it grew in kind of an organic developmental fashion, following a family tradition of charitable altruism, and with the enthusiastic support of my children.”

 

Last December, Viking Foundation awarded grants totaling $75,000 to Nebraska Appleseed and 18 other nonprofits in three states. Appleseed’s grant supports human resource expenses for its Intake and Information Community Assistance Program.

 

“Appleseed’s commitment to working for justice and opportunity for all is entirely in concert with Viking’s vision, mission and values in pursuit of the American dream,” said Eggland.

 

“Support from the Viking Foundation has really been key to our intake and information line – an important hub of our work,” noted Rebecca Gould, Appleseed’s executive director.

 

“The intake line is the link between us and the community,” explained Trisha Thompson, Appleseed’s intake coordinator. “It helps keep our work grounded in the issues that ultimately matter to low-income folks across the state, who are dealing with problems and systems that aren’t really built to serve them.”

 

Thompson takes an open-minded approach and tries to tailor responses to individuals, rather than rattling off a list of possible referrals where someone might seek solutions to a problem. Issues she hears about can be anything from utility shut-offs or challenges navigating public benefit systems, to things Appleseed cannot help with like divorce and child custody, or landlord-tenant issues.

 

Part of what Thompson does is look for patterns. “At first something sounds more like an individual problem. But once we’ve heard about it five or six or seven times, it might be something bigger.”

 

Intake calls are often difficult or heart-wrenching to hear, dealing with systemic problems that will not be solved next week, next month or even in years. No one wants to hear there are not immediate solutions, but callers respect Appleseed’s transparency and realistic assessment of what they are facing.

 

“I’ve found that people genuinely do appreciate that someone takes the time to hear their entire story and bear witness to the struggles they’re dealing with, without immediately jumping in to try and fix things, or just focusing on a specific piece of their problem,” said Thompson.

 

“It’s really nice to be able to link people into other opportunities and ways they can take action, in addition to answering an initial question that someone might have had,” she added. “We also don’t bring cases [before the court] that we aren’t confident we can win, and we generally do win them.”

 

Typically, Nebraska Appleseed is aware of potential legislation and opportunities where they can join forces and build accessibility, community, power and solidarity with other folks who are dealing with those issues. An example is Medicaid expansion.

 

That ballot initiative proved to be the right strategy and approach to try next. Nebraskans voted to pass Medicaid expansion, one of Appleseed’s success stories. “We’re doing the work now to make sure it gets implemented, and in a way that achieves what voters intended,” said Gould.

 

Nebraska Appleseed is currently speaking out about a regulatory change proposed by the Trump administration to tighten eligibility for food stamps (SNAP benefits). It would potentially affect 3.1 million people, including many Nebraskans.

 

“There’s always a drumbeat of challenging situations that we’re aware of and trying to address,” said Gould. Despite all the rhetoric and the current political environment that can affect how staff feel in the office, “Our role is to do what we can to provide hope and positive action, and to help people keep moving forward in these moments where it feels like that is a difficult thing.”

 

Lincoln nonprofits interested in submitting proposals for support from the Viking Foundation must do so by Oct. 1. For more information, see vikingfoundation.webs.com/.