The Woman’s Club of Clayton has received a $25,000 Ray Bryan Award to support programs that serve children.
The club will split the money equally among three groups — Clayton Area Ministries, Backpack Buddies and Serve the Need Johnston County. Each group will receive $8,333.33 for their organization.
The award came from the RYE Foundation.
“Our club is so grateful to be the recipients of this generous grant,” said club President Betsy Grannis. “We look forward to being good stewards of these funds to benefit these wonderful organizations.”
The RYE Foundation has ties to Clayton. J. Warren Steen, the foundation’s president since 2001, grew up in Clayton, and his mother, Mrs. John W. Steen, was president of the Woman’s Club from 1967 to 1968. His father was a former pastor of Clayton’s First Baptist Church.
The RYE Foundation awarded the grant in honor of Mrs. Steen and “as a challenge to current members to follow Mrs. Steen’s example of civic involvement and Christian Stewardship.”
A group of philanthropists founded the Rye Foundation in 2001 in Winston-Salem because they believed North Carolina needed a new charitable foundation to focus solely on the needs of children. The foundation’s name comes from the first letter of three focus areas — Religion, Youth and Education.
The foundation awarded its first grant, $25,000, to the Billy Graham Training Center in Asheville. Its largest grant to date, $65,000, went to the Rye Foundation House at Camp Caraway in Asheville.
A board of directors makes policy and funding decisions. Gifts are limited to charitable groups based in North Carolina, and every grant must:
• Help children and youth.
• Be in North Carolina.
• Have a spiritual component.
Serve the Need qualified for this grant based on the above criteria. The Clayton Women’s Club has worked with our organization in the past and remembered our mission of helping those in need; man, woman and child.
Be sure to thank any member of the Clayton Women’s Club for remembering Serve The Need.