Second-Year Grants from Social Justice Organization Total $189,000

More than a dozen social service agencies strapped for cash are getting an infusion of money from a religious organization.

It's the second year, the campus-based Illinois Disciples Foundation (IDF) has given out money from its endowment. This year $189,000 is going to 14 groups that range from the Wesley Evening Food Pantry to Crisis Nursery to the Greater Community AIDS Project. The group's director, Jen Tayabji, said many of those groups face a funding slowdown thanks to the recession.

"Some of it is state funding that's been cut or payments that are behind, and a lot of grant-making organizations have cut grants altogether because their endowments have lost so much money," Tayabji said. "So to be able to give these grants makes a huge impact on these organizations, and they've been very grateful for the money they can get."

Mary Ann Daly is a resident at Rantoul's Generations of Hope, where seniors volunteer to live near and assist troubled children. She said she agrees that charitable funding is crucial.

"We do save the state money, but it still is a very expensive program," Daly said. "We have to have social workers and therapists and people there to to work with these kids."

Tayabji said the IDF's endowment has grown despite weak investment performance - in part because the group sold off its former building on campus two years ago.