By Martha B. Jacob –

Twenty-one area non-profit organizations, including two from Brown County will share in awards totaling $250,300 from Hayswood Foundation’s 2016 grant program.
Selections were made from applications submitted earlier in the year. Brown County recipients this year include a $3,000 grant to the John P. Parker Historical Society in Ripley and $4,000 to the Pregnancy Resource Center in Georgetown.
The Hayswood Hospital Foundation, Inc. (as it was originally known) was formed in 1974. The “Hospital” portion of the name was removed in 1985 following the closing of Hayswood Hospital in Maysville. Later the Foundation was formed and agreed to provide support for health and recreation were selected as the Foundation’s new purpose.
It’s first grant went to the Limestone Youth Orchestra in July 1985 to purchase a piano that would be maintained at Maysville Community College and used by the college choir as well as other community organizations.
According to Tamma Plymesser, executive director of the Pregnancy Resource Center in Georgetown, this year marks the second year in a row that the facility  received the Hayswood Foundation Grant.
“This year marks our second year for this grant,” Plymesser said. “Our grant for this year is for $4,000. “This grant money is very important to the Pregnancy Resource Center. The funds will be used for  the purchase of cribs, mattresses, bedding and pack-and-plays for its “Sweet Dreams Project.”
Plymesser explained that the Sweet Dreams Project awards clients who complete an eight-week class to receive a crib, mattress and bedding for their infant. In 2015 the PRC also received a $4,000 grant from the foundation which was used for office computers, client educational material and infant and toddler car seats.
“We depend upon the fundraisers and the generosity of individuals, businesses and churches to make our general budget,” Plymesser said, “The receipt of grants such as those from the Hayswood Foundation enable us to afford extras that make a difference in the services we can extend to our clients. We are so grateful to the Hayswood Foundation.”
Carol Stivers is with the  John P. Parker Historical Society in Ripley said that she too was happy to receive a $3,000 grant from the Hayswood Foundation.
“We have been working on plans to build something to put many of our outside items on display in,” Stivers explained. “We have plans to build a small barn to store all the many iron items we have at the Parker house. We desperately need a structure to get all these items out of the weather.
“The entire project will cost around $30,000 but this $3,000 grant will get us started with a concrete pad. We will work hard to raise the rest of the money through fundraisers to complete the project.”
Since 1985, and through the fall of 2014, the Foundation has awarded approximately $7.75 million in grants for projects large and small.
Applications for the next grant cycle will be available in June of 2017. Visit www.hayswood.org for details.