2022 Round Up For Good Organizations

January - Daily Bread Soup Kitchen

Mission: The mission of Daily Bread Soup Kitchen is to feed the hungry of our community regardless of race, religion, or ethnicity. We welcome all volunteers to this service who share an unconditional positive regard for every human being.

Project Proposal: Our yearly budget indicates that we will spend $31,974 on protein, meat and cheese, for our sack lunches. We serve an average of 225 to-go hot meals, accompanied by a sack lunch. The sack lunches are filled with hearty meat and cheese or peanut butter and jelly sandwich. For our homeless and transient guests, this is often their only meal. Also, we provide each guest with a bottle of water. We are requesting $5,000 to help pay for the additional protein, meat and cheese, for our sack lunches.

February - Urbana Free Library Foundation

Mission: The Urbana Free Library Foundation advocates for and promotes support of the Library to benefit the commmunity, meet the emerging needs of library users, and plan for future expansions.

Project Proposal: The Foundation is raising funds to make some upgrades to the Children's Area. Two options are planned: installing "browse-friendly" shelving for our new picture books and updating the young children play space with a new play feature.

March - Habitat for Humanity Community Garden

Mission: Dedicated to bringing people together to help alleviate the burden of food deserts by providing a source of fresh produce, increase education of good health and nutrition through growing one's own food, and strengthen neighborhood collaboration.

Project Proposal: As we close out the third year of Habitat's community garden, we have become fully aware the garden is a huge boon for the neighborhood which is in crisis. The community garden is a place for positive collaboration, provides fresh accessible produce, and brings neighbors together. We need additional garden beds to increase our growing capacity. Our current beds need a complete soil analysis and to have compost added. Purchasing plants/seeds is always a challenge with our limited budget.

April - Urbana Champaign Books to Prisoners

Mission: The mission of Urbana-Champaign Books to Prisoners is to provide free books to people incarcerated in Illinois and to promote education about incarceration and prisons.

Project Proposal: Funds from Round Up for Good will enable Books to Prisoners to buy books that complement the generous donations from our community. Books we describe as "never have enough of": GED Preparation, Urban Fiction, Addiction Recovery, Self-Help, and Science Fiction. We will send these books to inmates in Illinois State Prisons and Federal Correctional Institutions in Illinois for them to keep as always. B2P will also be able to supply needed books for the libraries in the Champaign County Jails.

May - Common Ground's Food For All Program

Mission: We focus on supporting the local food system, fostering conscious consumerism, and building a vibrant inclusive community.

Project Proposal: Food For All is our community-funded food accessibility program. One aspect of our mission is providing an equitable local food system. To us, this means ensuring that healthy and affordable food is accessible to all people. Our Food For All program was created to do just this, and through grant donations and fundraising, we have been able to keep this program going. Food For All covers full owner equity. Food For All members get all the benefits of ownership, in addition to a 10% discount on our entire produce section, as well as all Co+op Basics products. In 2021, Food For All granted 71 full equity payments for new members, in addition to providing thousands of dollars in discounts.

June - Eastern Illinois Foodbank

Mission: The Eastern Illinois Foodbank exists to alleviate hunger in eastern Illinois by providing a reliable source of food for the hungry through cooperation with a network of food pantries and agencies.

Project Proposal: EIF is located in a low manufacturing area. This paired with disruptions to the food chain and rising costs during the pandemic made it difficult to meet the increased need in our 18-county service area. To ensure we are poised to continue providing product to the more than 10,000 people in eastern Illinois facing food insecurity, an efficient delivery system with foodbanks in our network is key. Proceeds will directly fund the delivery of 8 - 10 truckloads of donated product for our community.

July - Planned Parenthood of Illinois: Champaign Health Center

Mission: Planned Parenthood of Illinois (PPIL) is the leader in providing and promoting comprehensive, compassionate health care, education, and rights.

Project Proposal: A Round Up for Good Grant from the Common Ground Co-op will support the provision of high quality, affordable sexual and reproductive health care at our local Champaign Health Center. PPIL's Champaign Health Center serves nearly 3,000 patients each year - helping to prevent unintended pregnancies through contraception, reducing the spread of sexually transmitted infections through testing and treatment, and screening for cervical and other cancers.

August - Sola Gratia Farm

Mission: SGF is a community-based farm dedicated to producing locally-grown, high-quality, natural produce. SGF is committed to helping those who lack adequate food resources by donating a minimum of 10% of its produce to support regional hunger programs.

Project Proposal: SGF has consistently provided at least 20-30% of our fresh vegetable harvest to our local foodbank, food pantries, soup kitchens, little free markets and pantries and special requests and events. We offer educational and outreach support in our community so that neighbors in need have an opportunity to learn more about and engage in food production, food preparation and food enjoyment. Much of our mission-related work is made possible through donations and grants. Thank you for your support!

September - Immigrant Servies of CU

Mission: To help immigrants, refugees and asylum seekers in Champaign County become knowledgeable, secure and productive members of our community - supporting recent arrivals with medical, educational, legal, housing, job-related and transportation challenges.

Project Proposal: Grant money will be used to provide food, clothing, household goods & referral services to newly arrived asylum seekers, immigrants & refugees, particularly the refugees we are anticipating from Afghanistan. ISCU is already working with local Afghan immigrant families to help their relatives from Afghanistan relocate to C-U. Based on past experience, we know that whatever government funds are available for them will need to be augmented by payments & services from organizations such as ISCU.

October - Courage Connection

Mission: Courage Connection is committed to ensuring every member of our community has the education and resources to live in safe healthy relationships.

Project Proposal: We understand that for our organization to provide lasting change, outreach and education have to be a major priority. Over the year we have developed a youth outreach program called RESPECT. It is a 7th-grade curriculum that teaches the dynamics of relationship violence, the importance of self-love, and bystander intervention. We will use the money to grow this program. We would like to see this program in every middle school in the 4 counties we serve.

November - Prairie Rivers Network

Mission: At Prairie Rivers Network, we protect water, heal land, and inspire change. Using the creative power of science, law, and collective action, we protect and restore our rivers and return healthy soils and diverse wildlife to our lands.

Project Proposal: These funds will be used to support PRN's work to promote a food system that is based on regenerative agriculture practices, which build healthy soil, protect water, and support biodiversity while producing healthy food. The influence of the chemical agriculture industry in Illinois is strong and far reaching. This grant will support our ongoing work to build alliances, reduce ag water pollution, and address herbicide damage.

December - Crisis Nursery

Mission: Crisis Nursery creates an "Island of Safety" dedicated to the prevention of child abuse and neglect by providing 24-hour emergency care for children and support to strengthen families in crisis.

Project Proposal: Funds from the grant will support Crisis Nursery's Safe Children program, which provides free emergency care to children "at risk of harm" due to a family crisis. Each child receives loving care, safe shelter, and basic necessities such as diapers, wipes, clothing, food, formula, and age appropriate activities. On average, the Nursery admits 400 children a year. By rounding up your change, you can help provide care for up to 12 children whose families are experiencing crisis.