The Page/Lake Powell Community Fund Committee held a reception at Mulligan’s at Lake Powell National Golf Course on June 14 to recognize local organizations that received 2023 grant awards from the committee.

The fund, which is associated with the Arizona Community Foundation (ACF) of Flagstaff, awards grants to local organizations that provide services for youth, arts and culture, education, environmental education and conservation, health care, social services and victim services. 

This year, the committee awarded a total of $19,910 to five local organizations, with the maximum award amount allowed for an organization capped at $5,000.

This year’s grant recipients and award amounts were Glen Canyon Conservancy ($4,510), Glen Canyon Outdoor Academy ($5,000), Grand Circle Arts Alliance ($2,400), Surya Zoba-Sunshine Community Band ($3,000) and Victim Witness Services for Northern Arizona ($5,000).

The reception was hosted by Page/Lake Powell Community Fund Committee member Amanda Boston.

“The Page/Lake Powell Community Fund and the Arizona Community Foundation were built to serve communities in need, specifically communities in Arizona,” she said, adding that the sole purpose of the projects undertaken by the awardees is to “make Page better and provide support for our community.”  

“All of our recipients submitted fantastic applications this year with really well thought out projects that make great use of our annual funds,” Boston said.

Glen Canyon Conservancy (GCC) was represented at the reception by Executive Director Debbie Moses and Archivist and Collections Manager Deanna Smith.

GCC is a nonprofit organization that raises money to help support Glen Canyon National Recreation Area. It operates stores at several locations in Arizona and Utah, including downtown Page, Carl Hayden Visitor Center at Glen Canyon Dam, and Navajo Bridge. They also provide visitor information at visitor information desks at those and other locations. 

Smith said the grant money will be used to go toward printing new exhibit content for the Powell Museum and Archives, which closed in June 2019 due to flooding from a backed-up sewer system.

“With that flood, we actually had to scrap everything in the museum. Everything had to be torn off and restarted,” Smith said. “Hopefully, we will reopen this summer.”  

Wagner Kelly, president of Grand Circle Arts Alliance (GCCA), described his organization as a nonprofit group of artists in the Page/Lake Powell area. It operates a gallery in downtown Page where member artists can display and sell their work. 

“It’s a place where people might try to learn how to make a living doing this or supplement an income and really expand their creativity and provide the community with a place to go in and shop,” Kelly said.

“This was the very first grant that we’ve received, and we are very thankful. The funds that we requested helps us with our operating expenses and to keep this thing going and to give ourselves a little bit of a cushion in case something happens, something goes crazy. It gives us a little bit of extra money to continue to serve the community and the artists in the community.” 

Victim Witness Services for Northern Arizona is a nonprofit group that operates in Page, Williams, the Grand Canyon, Flagstaff and throughout the Arizona portion of Navajo Nation.   

“We work with any type of victim: domestic violence, sex assault, harassment. They do not have to file a police report to get our help,” said Heather Erwin, the organization’s sex assault response team and public education manager. “We work with a lot of victims that maybe aren’t ready to go the legal route. We can help them with filing for orders of protection, walking them through the court process, doing advocacy work.”

She said the grant will help the organization continue serving victims of crime, including by providing transportation 

“As we know, there’s limited resources in Page, so we can help get them transportation to the City of Flagstaff, wherever those resources are that they need,” Erwin said.  

No representative was present at the reception for Glen Canyon Outdoor Academy (GCOA). Boston explained that the grant money will be used by GCOA to run a project with Flagstaff-based organization Terra BIRDS to develop and complete a landscaping plan for the school. 

“They’re going to be learning stewardship of the land and the resources … and how to work together as a team to achieve a common goal,” she said. “This is also going to bring in family members and help develop another community garden for Page and give people a chance to develop some sustainability and learn a little bit about farm-to-table practice so that they can learn a little bit more about where our food sources come from.” 

The Surya Zoba-Sunshine Community Band is an after-school program that also works closely with GCOA. Their grant will be used to purchase low brass instruments. The community band, which will eventually start performing publicly, is open to everyone, not just GCOA school members.

“They’re going to be expanding here pretty soon, so we’re looking forward to seeing great things from both GCOA and Surya Zoba,” Boston said.

Founded in 1997, the Page/Lake Powell Community Fund is a family of charitable funds guided by members of the community. Grants are made to a variety of community organizations in the Page and Lake Powell area. Since its inception, the fund has awarded grants and scholarships totaling nearly $380,000.