AwesomeFoundation GR
Every chess master was once a beginner.
With this simple idea, Bill Adams works with children from kindergarten through high school to learn the strategy and tactics of chess, one of the world’s most popular games that is played by millions of people worldwide.
No one champions the art of chess more [...]
Brian Falther had an idea in March that has since grown (pun intended) into a project that could change the way we think about & grow food.
Brian is a mechanical engineer, a thinker, an entrepreneur and most importantly – a dreamer.
The Urban Tech Farm [...]
How much time, energy or donation would you give to help a fellow human have the best day of their life? That’s the question Dan Plew and Renne’ Wyman asked the Awesome Foundation when we first met with them to discuss their unique project.
“The Best Prom Ever” concept started about 8 [...]
Wanda Wansley is an awesome person.
Wanda is a high school English teacher at Grand Rapids Central High School that has a passion for teaching and helping others. She has started operating a summer reading camp for local children, ages 2-12, at Davis Memorial Church of God in Christ. The “Rollobrary [...]
Jake’s Music Festival was started in 2005 by Tom and Mary Scheidel of Rockford, Michigan and named for their son Jake who was diagnosed with Type 1, also known as juvenile diabetes, 15 years ago when he was only six.
Type 1 diabetes is a lifelong (chronic) [...]
Kris DeYoung is a teacher for the Catholic Secondary Schools in Grand Rapids and as the service learning coordinator (HOPE Coordinator) at the school, Kris is always looking for meaningful and substantive opportunities for her students to give back to the community through projects and experiences. Kris collaborates each year with
Mike Jacobs has a passion for teaching. As a high school Physical Science teacher at Calvin Christian High School for 9 years, he has seen a lot of new technology. Mike likes to take new technology and find ways to use it in his classroom. Mike has a problem though… In using technology, he is [...]
Teenagers often struggle to find a place where they feel welcome, said Greg Lewis, librarian at the Kentwood branch of the Kent District Library.
That’s why Lewis was ecstatic to win a $1,000 grant in February from the Grand Rapids Awesome Foundation to support Kentwoodpalooza, a music event for teenagers that will [...]
January’s Awesome Foundation grant awarded to a cycling team that will race in support of people affected by cancer.
Brad MacKenzie, 27, won January’s $1,000 grant from the Grand Rapids Awesome Foundation to support his R4AC, or Race for a Cure, Cycling Project. R4AC is an amateur cycling team that will raise money for the [...]
Heels That Heal wins the second Awesome Foundation grant of $1,000, the foundation’s second monthly grant to local folks working to “make Grand Rapids awesome”…
Syretta Calvert, 37, received a $1,000 grant from the Grand Rapids chapter of the Awesome Foundation to start her project called Heels That Heal which will provide dresses, high [...]
