Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

First Presbyterian Church LaGrange (FPCL) is now accepting applications for its Tolbert Community Grant Program.

The program offers grants to local nonprofit organizations to help improve their efforts or to just get started.

The Rev. Laura Neely, pastor of Mission & Formation for FPCL, said the church is offered the program for about three years.

“The goal is for the church to have a direct impact in some of the district service agencies in our community,” Neely said.

Neely said the number of grants given out each session depends on the number of grant applications received and the funds available.

“In the fall, we gave out four different grants,” Neely said, “It kind of depends on how much funding we have and where the needs are.”

The funds from the program come from the church and donations.

“We have a designated fund that’s named after one of our former pastors, Jan Stewart Tolbert,” Neely said, explaining the program was named after Tolbert. “So people have given in her honor toward these grants as well.”

The program offers grants of up to $2,500 for new programs that are just starting or expanding an existing service or program.

“For us at a church, it’s helped us to get a better feel for what the needs are in our community, and it has enabled us to be partners with more of the organizations that support our community,” Neely said.

The grants are offered twice a year in the spring and fall. The spring grant process opened on Feb. 23 and will continue for a month. Completed grant applications are due no later than March 24.

The grant application can be found online at: https://www.fpclagrange.org/grants.