The Free Press, Mankato, MN

Local News

July 1, 2008

VINE makes up part of financial gap

Donations a fraction of lost grant

By Dan Linehan

MANKATO — VINE has received more than $70,000 in the past month in donations after it learned it would lose a $239,000 state grant.

The Greater Mankato Area United Way stepped up, offering an emergency grant of $15,000 to the faith-based agency that helps the elderly live independently.

United Way Executive Director Laura Bowman cited in a news release the magnitude of VINE’s loss and expressed a hope the community and region rally around VINE.

The Mankato Clinic Foundation asked for a proposal and pledged $20,000 to help keep VINE solvent in the short term.

Likewise, foundation President Marcia Bahr wrote: “We believe in the work VINE has been doing and are hopeful that others in the community will be able to assist with additional funding.”

Individuals and businesses also donated $35,000 during the past month in response to VINE’s request for help.

VINE Director Pam Determan said she is “very, very touched by the generosity of people who have been touched by our plight.”

And many of those who have given money don’t have a whole lot of money to begin with, she said.

The grant was from the state Department of Human Services, under the community service/community services development program, state Human Services spokeswoman Patrice Vick said. VINE had received money under the program since 2001 and from a different state program since 1997.

It now receives no state funding.

The grant was intended to be “seed” money, Vick said, and was not intended to be given out indefinitely.

Determan said she knew the grant process was competitive and that it was seed money, but it was still a “total shock” to lose it.

“We were doing things that DHS was requesting that we did,” she said, including crafting new programs.

The state also required its grant recipients to develop a sustainability plan that would show how its programs would continue after the grant lapses.

Determan said VINE receives 76 percent of its income from local sources, and its sustainability plan is to rely more on local funding.

Still, she said, “I think that the state has some responsibility toward helping the community keep older folks independent.”

While Determan praised the community’s response, it still makes up less than a third of what VINE lost.

“We’re certainly not out of the woods yet.”

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