Altrusa supports a variety of worthwhile organizations and specific projects. Some of the organizations that have been recently funded by Altrusa are listed below.
Columbus Literacy Council
Altrusa has a long history of funding projects of the Columbus Literacy Council (CLC). The Council's mission is to increase the literacy skills of adults in Central Ohio functioning below an eighth-grade level. Additionally, our area has experienced a significant increase in its non-native speaking population. CLC helps by teaching English language skills in listening, speaking, reading and writing. Altrusa funds educational materials used in the classroom.
Visit the website of the Columbus Literacy Council.
Columbus Metropolitan Library Foundation
Altrusa’s donation to the CML Foundation is used to support the library’s Winter Reading Challenge, a classroom-based program that encourages K-12 students to read a variety of books for 20 days. Literacy activities are provided to teachers to help accomplish reading goals. Several thousand participating students receive small prizes (pencils, bookmarks, etc.) throughout the challenge to incentivize their reading.
Learn more about the CML Foundation
The Boys & Girls Clubs of Central Ohio
Since 1948, this organization has provided comprehensive, affordable after-school and summer programming for more than 2,000 youth ages 6 through 18 in the Central Ohio area. We help fund BGCCO's Academic Success programming in which club members receive one hour a day of programming during the school year and two hours a day during the summer. Power Hour includes homework support and grade-level math and reading activities.
Learn more about BGCCO.
Aging Solutions
Aging Solutions, a non-profit foundation branch of the Central Ohio Area Agency on Aging (COAAA), helps support older adults and people with disabilities by providing urgent goods and services that are not covered by other funding sources. Often these individuals need just a little extra help. Aging Solutions provides emergency funds for items such as prescriptions, health and safety repairs, appliances like space heaters or microwaves, one-time rent support, and other essential support.
Click here to learn more about the COAAA
Easterseals Central and Southeast Ohio
Easterseals provides adult day, educational, therapeutic, recreational, and early intervention programs and services for people with disabilities or special needs in a 29-county territory. Altrusa provides funding for the Discovery Garden Playgroup, a free weekly playgroup for families with children ages birth to five. Discovery Garden offers developmentally appropriate activities for children and their caregivers to participate in together. The playgroup supports children’s social, emotional, physical, and cognitive development.
Learn more about Easterseals of Central and Southeast Ohio
Medicine for Mali
Medicine for Mali (MFM) is a non-profit, non-government organization founded in 2000 that serves an eight-village region with a population of 8,000 people, of which only 23% of men and 12% of women are literate. The majority of MFM projects directly benefit women and children. Altrusa funds have helped more than 1000 students in 17 villages, by providing teacher training to improve students’ reading and writing among other things.
Click here to visit Medicine for Mali's website.
Star House
Founded in 2006, Star House operates Central Ohio's only 24/7/365 drop-in center, where homeless youth are provided immediate access to food, clothing, hygiene items, laundry facilities, showers, and a safe place to land. The clinical team connects youth with therapy, case management, and stabilizing resources, such as housing, transportation, health care, employment, education, addiction services, legal aid, government benefits, ID cards and more.
Learn more about Star House.
Days for Girls
In partnership with Altrusa International, Days for Girls provide cost-effective, sustainable, and contextually relevant products to help women and girls in more than 145 countries manage their periods and engage in livelihood activities. Access to information about puberty and menstruation leads to increased body literacy, a healthy public perception of menstruation, and decreased stigma and shame. Menstrual health and hygiene are critical factors in keeping young women in the classroom thus improving education opportunities and outcomes.
Click here to find out more.
Additionally, we provide hands-on service to a variety of organizations in Columbus. Over the years we have assisted with:
• Packing food for the elderly and infirm at Meals on Wheels
• Sorting and packing food for needy families at the Mid-Ohio Food Collective
• Cookie baking, meal preparation, and collecting new toiletry items for families with sick children at the Ronald McDonald House
• Sorting clothes and supplies for Central Ohio Veterans Stand Down
• Collecting and sorting used books for several non-profits including the Clintonville-Beechwold Community Resources Center, Riverview International Center, NNEMAP and Maryhaven
• Buying and packing snacks for Lutheran Social Services CHOICES, a local shelter for women, and Star House, a 24/7/365 drop-in facility to assist homeless youth
• Collecting fabric and underwear, and sewing for Days for Girls
• Collecting supplies, such as latex gloves, for Medicine for Mali
• Assisting students at the Columbus Metropolitan Library homework help centers
• Helping students read with the Library’s Winter Reading Challenge
• Participating in Make a Difference Day
• Collecting and writing messages on greeting cards quarterly for the elderly at Central Ohio Area Agency on Aging
• Writing notes of encouragement to non-native speakers learning English at the Columbus Literacy Council
• Hand-sewing homemade baby items for Gifts for Angels, Inc.
• Wrapping holiday gifts for Boys & Girls Clubs of Central Ohio
Fun Fact about Altrusa
Altrusa of Columbus was chartered in 1918 to provide an opportunity for professional and executive women to perform community service while giving them the opportunity to build relationships with women of similar backgrounds who were working in a variety of industries and professions.