The 2015 Roanridge Trust Award Grants, totaling $ 160,369 for 10 grants for transformative work across the church, have been announced by Sam McDonald, Deputy Chief Operating Officer and Director of Mission of the Domestic and Foreign Missionary Society.

The Roanridge Trust Award grants are awarded annually for new and creative models for leadership development in small communities.

“It is exciting how the people of The Episcopal Church are engaging the mission opportunities in rural ministry settings,” McDonald stated.  “There is an incredible commitment to creative ministry. The vision for mission and ministries presented in these programs is inspiring.”

The Roanridge Trust was established by the Cochel family, who originally gave a working farm in Missouri called Roanridge to the Domestic and Foreign Missionary Society. The interest from the sale of the farm generates the grant funds.

Awarded for 2015 work were:

The Episcopal Diocese of Central New York: $4,900 for Utica/Rome District Discernment Team Training

The Episcopal Diocese of Central Pennsylvania: $10,000 for Stevenson School for Ministry 

The Episcopal Diocese of Dominican Republic: $12,480 for Proyecto Taller Costura (Sewing Workshop Project) 

The Episcopal Diocese of Honduras: $20,000 for Proyecto Jabes 

The Episcopal Diocese of Iowa: $23,500 for Disenfranchised Young Adults:  Bridging the Gap in Rural Communities 

The Episcopal Diocese of Milwaukee: $10,489 for Social Justice Outreach Programs in Rural Churches

The Episcopal Diocese of Minnesota: $10,000 for Minnesota Indigenous-Ojibwe-Dakota Total Ministry Training Program    

The Episcopal Diocese of Nebraska: $30,000 for the Bishop Kemper School for Ministry

The Episcopal Diocese of Olympia: $20,000 for Chaplains of the Harbor Bible Study Training 

The Episcopal Church in South Carolina: $19,000 for Lifelong Christian Formation Training Program 

The Episcopal Church: www.episcopalchurch.org

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