The Row River Valley Community Partnership is deeply grateful to announce a $5,000 grant from The Ford Family Foundation to help strengthen our fundraising capacity for the future Dorena Main Fire Station.
This grant is a little different from many of the gifts our community has received.
Rather than funding a piece of the building itself, The Ford Family Foundation is helping us develop the professional fundraising support needed to pursue the matching funds for the federal funding anticipated for construction of the Dorena Main Station.
For a small rural community, that matters enormously.
The Row River Valley has already accomplished what once might have seemed impossible. Neighbors came together to establish a new rural fire protection district, volunteers stepped forward to become firefighters, land was donated for a permanent station, and countless hours have been given to planning, permitting, fundraising, and building the foundation for long-term fire protection in our valley.
But raising the substantial matching funds required for a major public infrastructure project calls for specialized fundraising experience and connections that a small rural community does not necessarily have on its own.
The Ford Family Foundation recognized that challenge and chose to invest in our ability to meet it.
In many ways, it is the familiar idea of teaching someone to fish rather than simply giving them a fish.
Their support will help us bring experienced fundraising professionals alongside our local effort, expanding our ability to reach foundations, businesses, major donors, and other partners who may be willing to help make the Dorena Main Station possible.
That is more than a $5,000 contribution. It is an investment in local capacity.
It is also a meaningful expression of concern for rural Oregon and for communities like ours that are working hard to build essential services with limited resources.
The people of the Row River Valley have demonstrated again and again what can happen when neighbors, volunteers, public agencies, businesses, foundations, and other partners work together. We still have a significant distance to travel before the Dorena Main Station is built, but we do not have to travel it alone.
To The Ford Family Foundation, thank you for believing in rural communities, for understanding the challenges we face, and for giving us another tool to help build the fire protection our valley needs for generations to come.
We are grateful for the investment, the confidence, and most of all, the partnership.
