February 18, 2010 - Glens Falls, New York: In 2009 the Charles R. Wood foundation awarded a total of $1,580,940 in grants to area nonprofit organizations. Over the past five years the Foundation has awarded over 5 million dollars - $5,650,628 to benefit the Lake George Region and surrounding areas. The Foundation strongly encourages all grant seekers (must be a valid 501 c3) whose projects or programs assist children, healthcare or the arts to visit our website at www.charlesrwoodfoundation.org and submit an online application. In order for applications to be considered at the Foundation’s spring meeting they must be submitted by April 1, 2010.

Charles R. Wood established the Charles R. Wood Foundation in 1978 to provide assistance in areas of special need in the Lake George Region and surrounding areas. Grants are awarded to nonprofit organizations with an emphasis on programs for children, healthcare and the arts. Mr. Wood, founder of Storytown USA, the present-day Great Escape Theme Park, the Double H Hole in the Woods Camp for critically ill children and numerous other endeavors and businesses in the area, died in September of 2004 leaving the majority of his estate to the Foundation that bears his name.

The following grants have been awarded in 2009: $724,000 to the Glens Falls Hospital to upgrade the operating room; $250,000 to Crandall Library for their expansion project; $185,090 to the Moses-Ludington Hospital for a digital mammography machine; $125,000 to The Hyde Collection Trust for their roof infrastructure project; $35,000 to the Frederic Remington Art Museum to support the building project; $25,000 to the Family YMCA of the Glens Falls Area in support of the pre-school patio and pavilion project; $25,000 to Hannah’s Hope for Giant Axonal Neuropathy to support a gene therapy project ; $20,000 to the Adirondack Community College Foundation in continued support of the construction of a Regional Higher Education Center; $20,000 to Haynes House of Hope to the capital building match campaign; $15,000 to Saratoga Care to purchase magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) equipment; $12,000 to Doorways to Healing for their North Country Program; $10,000 to the Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Disorders Association to support the counseling program, scholarships and a marketing campaign; $10,000 to Boy Scouts of America to renovate and expand the food service project; $10,000 to High Peaks Hospice and Palliative Care; $10,000 to the Richards Library for building expansion and alteration; $8,000 to Wildwood Programs for the horse and ring project; $7,000 to Newmeadow for the design and development of a playground to meet the needs of students with autism; $7,400 to the Double H Hole in the Woods Ranch ; $5,000 to Amanda’s House for operating costs; $5,000 to the Big Brothers and Big Sisters of the Southern Adirondacks for their mentoring grieving children program ; $5,000 to Junior Achievement of Northeastern New York to purchase 50 Junior Achievement Kits; $5,000 to the Lake George Opera Festival Association for “Opera to Go”; $5,000 to the Liberty House Foundation for the kitchen equipment fund; $5,000 to Pendragon for productions to be staged at the Charles R. Wood Theater; $5,000 to The Salvation Army, Glens Falls Corps; $5,000 to the Town of Johnsburg Library to build a safe walkway and vestibule with standard handicapped accessible doors; $3,750 to the Oscar Seagle Association for the Young Artist fund; $3,000 to the Warren-Hamilton Counties Action Committee for Economic Opportunity for the food pantry; $3,000 to West Glens Falls Fire Company for the purchase of two Automated External Defibrillators (AED’s); $2,500 to the Adirondack Community Trust for the Indian Lake Theater fund; $2,500 to the Adirondack Theatre Festival to update and overhaul its computer and software technology; $2,500 to the Association for the Hearing Impaired for the assistive technology loan-out program; $2,500 to Caritas for their volunteer recruitment project; $2,500 to Creative Healing Networks for the pilot program for women veterans at Wiawaka Holiday House; $2,500 to the Historic Salem Courthouse Preservation Association for the support of tuition free programs; $2,500 to To Life for their breast cancer project; $2,500 to the Wilton Wildlife Preserve & Park for children’s environmental education programs; $2,000 to the Family Service Association of Glens Falls and $2,000 to the Schenectady Day Nursery for the floor replacement. An additional $8,700 was granted to benefit various other not-for-profit organizations.

Information about grant applications can be obtained online at: