Foundation Gives Big Grants to Pine Barrens Society; Cornell and Spanish Apostolate

The Long Island Community Foundation, a nonprofit that aims to make Long Island a better place to live and work, announced sizable grants this month for a number of East End organizations.

Locally, the Pine Barrens Society for $20,000 for a multi-year plan to protect Long Island water quality; Cornell Cooperative Extension got $22,000 to support environmentally sound pest-management programs at six vineyards on the North Fork; and the North Fork Spanish Apostolate received a $10,000 grant to create volunteer programs and serve more people. 

The recent grants total $607,000, distributed all across Nassau and Suffolk.

Elsewhere on the East End, the School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences at Stony Brook Southampton in Shinnecock Hills was granted $15,000 toward the Shinnecock Bay Restoration Program,which includes seeding eelgrass and shellfish beds to improve water quality in the beleaguered bay. The East End Arts & Humanities Council received $10,000 for an arts program designed to bolster economic and community development. In addition, the Amagansett Food Institute received $20,000; the Nature Conservancy in East Hampton was granted $35,000 and the Peconic Baykeeper Baykeeper received $20,000 to advocate for nature-based solutions to coastal hazards and climate change, like wetlands and eelgrass beds instead of hardening shore structures.