Dow Awards $80,000 in Community Grants

Dow grant program has awarded $611,000 since its inception

Louisiana - October 21, 2006

For the second consecutive year Dow has awarded over $80,000 in community grants supporting local non-profit organizations.  This year’s 25 recipients will use the grants to fund multiple community projects that benefit local residents in Assumption, Iberville and West Baton Rouge Parishes.

“The grant means a great deal to us and is a catalyst to get the whole project started,” said Sharon Boudreaux-Stam, Executive Director of the West Baton Rouge Tourist Commission. The Tourist Commission received a $5,000 grant to help fund a gazebo for the Louisiana Nature Garden and Walking Trail. “We hope that once we get it started, it will help us receive other grants by showing that we have made visual progress on our project.”

The Dow Community Grant Program was established in 1997 and has awarded over $611,000 in grant dollars to 137 separate projects since its introduction.

“We are pleased to be able to fund these diverse projects that reach a broad cross-section of our neighbors within the community,” said Rebecca Bentley, Dow Community Relations Manager.  “We receive more and more grant applications every year. The competition was keen again this year, and I wish we could have awarded grants to every organization that submitted a project.”

The 2005 grants were distributed at a ceremony held September 5th at the Dow Conference Center. A committee of Dow employees and community residents reviewed the proposals and selected the projects that best matched the criteria for the program. Proposals were required to produce results that would benefit many people in the community.

The 2005 grant recipients and projects include:

West Baton Rouge
Career Builders of Louisiana, for PTEC 101 (Process Technology) course for West Baton Rouge high school students; Office of Homeland Security, for Safety Town; Phi Sigma Omega Charitable and Educational, for the Young Author’s Program; Rosehill Volunteer Fire Department, for Fire Prevention and Safety for Children; West Baton Rouge Parish Government, for Community Cleanup of the Reverend Manuel, Freeman Lane Area; West Baton Rouge Recreation and Parks, for West Baton Rouge Parish Soccer Complex; West Baton Rouge Tourist Commission, for a gazebo for the Louisiana Nature Garden and Walking Trail.

Iberville
Iberville Parish Council, for Imagine Iberville CLEAN and Waste in Place seminars for Schools; Iberville Parks and Recreation, for Crescent Ben Park bleacher cover; Louisiana National Guard Youth Challenge Program, to expand Operation Opportunity; Maringouin Lions Club, for outdoor restroom facilities; New Horizons Community Development Corporation, for ALL STARS; Plaquemine City Police Department, for Youth Day 2005; St. Gabriel Police Department, for St. Gabriel Department Youth Corps; St. Gabriel Health Clinic for Diabetes Initiative Lab Services.

Iberville & West Baton Rouge
Cancer Services of Greater Baton Rouge, for Prescription Reimbursement and Nutritional Supplement Programs; Court Appointed Special Advocates of the 18th, for volunteer training and community awareness; Delta Sigma Theta and Southern University Alumni, for the Health and Fitness Expo; Mary Bird Perkins Cancer Center, for free colorectal and prostate/colorectal caner; YMCA of Greater Baton Rouge, for the Facts about Breast Health: Programs for Low-Income Rural Women; Habitat for Humanity of Greater Baton Rouge, for Habitat Helpers.

Assumption
Assumption Parish School Board, to fund Safety Town for Assumption Parish kindergarten students; Assumption Cultural Arts Guild, for Show Me the Talent Art Camp for Kids; Napoleonville Volunteer Fire Department to Enhance medical and rescue equipment and services; Shady Oak Horseshoe Club, for the Horseshoe Pit Fence Completion Project.

	The winners of the 2005 Dow Community Grant program receiving their grants at a ceremony held at the Dow conference center on September 5

For Editorial Information:

Gary Cambre
The Dow Chemical Company
(225) 353-8265