Applications for the 2013 Maria Anna Brunner Fund grants were mailed to Sisters in early January and are due March 1. The fund will distribute $500,000 to projects this year.
An information packet contains an application, letters to Sisters and applicants, a brochure outlining procedures for the application and an evaluation
As in previous years, a Sister Sponsor of the Precious Blood must be directly or indirectly involved with the project or program. Direct involvement means that the Sister Sponsor is serving as the Project Director or is actively involved in the project/program. Indirect involvement means that the Sister is very familiar with people who are applying for grant money, is knowledgeable about the project/program’s goals, objectives, and activities, and is in continual contact with the progress of the project/program.
The origin of the Maria Anna Brunner Fund dates to 1979 when the Sisters of the Precious Blood moved out of their Dayton, Ohio motherhouse building and into a smaller adjacent building in order to provide a new place for a healthcare facility called the Maria Joseph Living Care Center (MJC). When in 1985 the MJC was well underway in providing needed levels of healthcare to the Dayton community, the MJC’s parent organization, the Samaritan Health Resources, purchased the building from the Sisters.
Not long afterwards the Sisters began a community-wide stewardship process leading to the decision of how to use the monies from the sale. The community-wide decision opted for designating the sale monies to be invested. Sixty percent of the income earned from this investment then would be allocated toward programs that help the poor. The allocations would be in the form of grants and the fund was named after the Sisters of the Precious Blood’s foundress, Maria Anna Brunner, who was well known for her care of the poor.
Today this Maria Anna Brunner Grant Fund continues to enrich the lives of the poor through funding various non-profit agencies dedicated to the needs of the poor and underserved.
Note: the history of the MAB Fund was researched and written by Sister Nancy Kinross and reviewed and approved by Sister Florence Seifert who was Treasurer and later President during the time span.
– Story by Dave Eck