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[1]Boomerangs Resale Store is located on Madison's Northside. Their grant program aims to help close neighborhood opportunity and achievement gaps. (Photo courtesy of Craig Gielow)
This summer, a local Madison business will donate to non-profit organizations to help improve the Northside of the city.
Boomerangs Resale Store [2], located at 1133 N. Sherman Avenue in the Northgate Shopping Center, will give away $7,500 in grants, known as the Boomerangs Northside Community Grant, to Northside non-profits that are working to close equity and achievement gaps.
“It all goes back to the mission of our store, which is to provide gently used items at good prices and ultimately give the profits away to entities on the Northside that could use that money,” said Craig Gielow, Boomerangs Resale Store manager.
The resale store is part of a ministry outreach program at Door Creek Church, which has campuses on the eastside of Madison and in DeForest, north of Madison. As a way of giving back, the profits from the store are used to help the community, rather than to operate the church.
This is the first year that the store has decided to implement a grant program, although according to Gielow, the store has donated money and goods to area organizations since opening in 2008. Organizations that have received donations include include The River Food Pantry, Kennedy Heights Neighborhood Center, Vera Court Neighborhood Center and East Madison Community Center.
Gielow said that as business improved over the past few years, the store decided to focus its outreach on the Madison’s Northside neighborhood.
“We knew this could be a way to give away a noticeable amount of money that could really make an impact, specifically on a couple of areas. We’re focusing on organizations working to reduce achievement gaps in schools on the Northside between minorities and whites as well as organizations that are fighting racism,” Gielow said.
The greater Madison community will get to participate in the process by voting via social media on which non-profit is making the biggest impact.
According to Brad Sullard, senior associate pastor of Door Creek Church, the church donated $35,000 in grants to help close the achievement gap on the Northside, which inspired Boomerangs resale store to donate grant money to the same cause this year.
Last year, the church gave grants to Mendota Elementary School so 4th graders could go on a field trip and adopted one fourth grade class in which over half the class had special needs.
“We’re amazed at what people are doing in Madison to make a difference,” Sullard said. “Whether it’s a non-profit organization, a teacher in a classroom or an effort through an after school program, they are doing phenomenal stuff. Our church is really excited to see us in the community.”
Northside non-profits can apply for a chance to get these grants. Applications are due July 1, and the winning recipients will be announced August 10. Information on the grants can be found online at the store’s website.
