Over $32,000 given to groups that serve the intellectually disabled

Four Way Community Foundation Announces 2021
Rose Douglas Grants
Over $32,000 given to groups that serve the intellectually disabled.

Grants Pass, Ore.: The Four Way Community Foundation announces its 2021 grant awards under the Rose Douglas Program, which supports nonprofit organizations providing services to the intellectually disabled in Josephine County.

Rose Douglas was a local educator whose son Gary had Down syndrome. Gary was a soft-spoken, well-dressed man who loved to travel and enjoyed his job in Aspire’s recycling program, but at that time, very few educational or recreational opportunities existed for him and his peers. Rose left her savings in the care of the Four Way Community Foundation to provide for the well-being and enjoyment of local people with similar cognitive challenges in perpetuity. What her own family could not have then, Rose made sure other families could have after her own lifetime.

At Crossing Bridges Therapeutic Riding Center people with multiple handicaps bond with accommodating horses while dedicated educators help them build key skills and have tremendous fun. This year, the Rose Douglas program will provide $10,000 in student scholarships to make this deeply enriching program available to more families.

Southern Oregon Aspire was awarded $5,600 to modify a bathroom in its Birch Street residence, to keep residents safe as they become elderly and require extra care. Rose Douglas was instrumental in the creation of Aspire in 1975. Gary lived there contentedly.

Greenleaf Industries received $10,440 for a new soil mixing machine at its greenhouses, replacing a forty year old model held together with baling twine and prayer. Greenleaf provides meaningful and healthful outdoor employment nurturing bedding plants, allowing intellectually disabled individuals to participate in the workforce and to see their efforts grow and bloom in gardens across our county.

Women’s Crisis Support Team received $6,000 for an innovative program to network with a broad range of intervention organizations to promote the identification and inclusion of clients with intellectual disabilities in services to keep them safe. The Foundation is particularly proud to support WCST Executive Director Ray Dinkins’s creativity in broadening safety and inclusion for Rose Douglas-eligible individuals into the wider network of regional protections against violence.

By using the power of her local Four Way Community Foundation, Rose Douglas turned her generosity and vision into better lives for countless others. “It is the honor of the Four Way board to visit, evaluate, and provide support for the local groups Rose would have wanted to be here for Gary and that are now here for so many others,” said Four Way Board President Steve Roe.

Learn more about the Rose Douglas Grant Program and the Community Grants Program at Fourwaycommunityfoundation.org. To make a donation, leave your own legacy gift, or apply for grant funding, visit the website or call 541 474-9774.