The Hamilton College Town-Gown Fund Committee has awarded nine grants totaling $44,720 to local educational, public safety and other community organizations in the Town of Kirkland.
The money distributed represents a record for the Town-Gown Fund, which has invested more than $236,000 in the local community over the past eight years.
"Hamilton is proud to join with community leaders in making these grants each year," said college president Joan Hinde Stewart. "Doing so strengthens the community and the college's relationship with it."
The Clinton Central School District and the Clinton Fire Department each received $7,500. The district will use the grant to improve its public information efforts, while the fire department plans to purchase a replacement cascade air system. Other grants were awarded to:
- St. Mary's School, $6,500 to enhance technology instruction and equipment
- Clark Mills Volunteer Fire Department, $5,000 to support current operations or to purchase hydraulic rescue tools
- Clinton Central School District Foundation, $5,000 to support its annual appeal
- Kirkland Police Department, $4,420 to purchase a radar traffic recorder
- Central Oneida County Volunteer Ambulance Corps, $4,000 to continue training initiatives and to upgrade management software
- Kirkland Town Library, $3,000 to update the non-fiction collection for children and to purchase a portable public address system
- Clinton Historical Society, $1,800 to support student programs
The Hamilton College Town-Gown Fund was established in 2001 by anonymous donors to foster goodwill and better communication between the college, the Town of Kirkland and the Village of Clinton. Since its founding, the endowed fund has received gifts totaling more than $900,000 toward its $1 million goal. Income from the fund is used each year to make grants to organizations in the Town of Kirkland.
In addition to Stewart, members of the Town-Gown Committee include local businessmen John Fehlner of the Clinton Cider Mill and Tom Owens of ACCESS Federal Credit Union, Mayor of Clinton Gill Goering, Clinton Schools Superintendent Marie Wiles, Hamilton Professor of English Margaret Thickstun, Hamilton alumnus and Hamilton Point Investment Advisors President Andrew Burns, Town of Kirkland Councilman Nick Venero, and Hamilton trustees Amy Owens Goodfriend and Jack Withiam. Goodfriend is a native of Clinton.
Hamilton Vice President for Communications and Development Dick Tantillo and Executive Director of Communications Mike Debraggio sit on the committee as ex officio members.
