Programs that give food to the hungry and match adult mentors with vulnerable young people will build their services in Tuolumne County in the coming year, thanks to significant year-end support from the Sonora Area Foundation and its supporting organization, the Irving J. Symons Foundation.

Mentoring Works and the Jamestown Food Bank, both long-standing programs of the Amador-Tuolumne Community Action Agency, each received year-end grants to support core services.

The food bank, which distributes more than 1 million pounds of food each year to local families and food pantries, received a $70,000 two-year grant from the Irving J. Symons Foundation, as well as a $2,600 grant from the Sonora Area Foundation for an emergency repair to its delivery van. Mentoring Works received a $12,500 grant to support its efforts to train adult mentors and match them with young people in one-on-one friendships. The grant renews a $12,500 grant initially approved in April.

Including the grants awarded this month, the foundations have provided a total of 307 grants for a total of more than $1,521,179 to community nonprofits in the year.

"Through the generosity of all our donors, 2007 has succeeded in being our largest grant year," said Mick Grimes, executive director. "It is wonderful to see how donors can make a difference."

The food bank grant is a two-year unrestricted award, which Director Lee Kimball intends to use to increase the supply of fresh foods from the Central Valley, increase local donations for dry goods and build the number of volunteers helping at the food bank and in the local food pantries.

"With a nationwide food shortage occurring, the timing for this help couldn't have been better," Kimball said. "We're thrilled that our local community cares so much and that our community foundation is taking the lead in asking the community to step forward and make sure there is adequate food for our local families in need."

The Mentoring Works grant also provides core operating support to continue a program in its 12th year of service. The mentoring program coordinates 25 to 30 volunteer adults who are matched in friendships with children recommended by teachers, parents or family. The program, which is modeled after the national Big Brother/Big Sister organization, recruits, screens and trains adult volunteers, then supports the mentoring pair and their families with ongoing training, coordinated group activities and other services. A portion of the foundation's grant award comes from the Lucille Arnold Fund for Troubled Youth.

Additional grants awarded in the last quarter of this year include a $24,000 grant to the Summerville Family Resource Center to purchase a van and hire a part-time youth program coordinator, an $85,000 emergency grant to the Tuolumne County YES Partnership to continue activities to prevent youth alcohol and drug use and suicide, and a $30,000 grant to help all Tuolumne County public schools in the county coordinate and strengthen their arts education plans and make the best use of one-time state funding for the arts.

Sonora High School also received money to pay for new scoreboards, a volunteer group will be able to buy birthday and holiday gifts for hospitalized veterans, and the Central Sierra Arts Council and Comfort Project both received grants in honor of its two outgoing directors.

Smaller grants were also awarded to pay for logs for Interfaith's firewood program, help a Sonora homeless shelter purchase beds, and pay for a volunteer program award.

The Sonora Area Foundation, established in 1990, is a community foundation that channels donors' charitable contributions to worthy projects in Tuolumne County. The foundation's mission is to strengthen its community by promoting philanthropy through assisting donors, making grants and providing leadership.

For more information on grant applications or the establishment of a donor fund, contact the foundation at 533-2596 or visit the Web site at www.sonora-area.org.