The Special Grants Program of First Church in Wenham is a unique and exciting program established in 1996 to support “good works” beyond the church’s existing programs. It has awarded annual grants every year since then.

A few of the recipients from past years for the local area include The Community Giving Tree, Enon Village, Hamilton-Wenham Holiday Assistance Program, Acord Food Pantry, Hamilton-Wenham Composting Program and Wenham Issues of Social Services Help (WISSH).

Global grants included A Light For Zimbabwe, Physicians for Human Rights, Refugee 2nd Chance and MACRO USA, Inc.

Applications are typically for fairly specific uses and have supported many eclectic and far-ranging projects. The possibilities are endless.

The grants reflect needs within the church and local communities as well as global needs. We feel the mission of Special Grants is reflected in these awards.

Grant applications are now being accepted for 2012. The grant committee will meet in late fall and present the applications to the Church Cabinet for approval in January.

The application form is available by calling the church office at 978-468-4900, or the application can be downloaded from the Church’s web site under the Special Grants tab. The application is also attached to this announcement as a PDF. The deadline to submit the application is Nov. 15.

The First Church Special Grants Committee is Trudy Reid, Bob Swisher and Deb Twining.