CAMDEN, ME – Camden Rotary Club, has selected eight nonprofit organizations to receive grants totaling $25,000 as part of its annual giving to local causes. This year’s grants will support efforts to help people in need, improve the environment and address health-related issues.

A $10,000 grant will allow the Ripple Initiative in Rockland expand its assistance to people struggling with poverty. The organization, which offers essential household goods free of charge to families in need, will use the funds to provide twin, full or queen-size mattresses and box springs, sheet sets and protective bed bags to 100 local families.

Megunticook Watershed Association will receive $5,000 for its Student Watershed Stewards Project, which educates and trains students on the problems faced by local water resources and methods to combat these threats. The money will go toward hiring area students to collect bacteria samples weekly from May to September.

A special youth-oriented grant of $5,000 will go to the Hurricane Island Center for Science and Leadership to support the center’s Penobscot Bay Leadership Collaborative Program. The grant will enable local students to attend a transformative, 14-day summer course that engages them in boatbuilding in Rockland, sailing on Penobscot Bay and scientific study on Hurricane Island

Five additional organizations will each receive a $1,000 grant from the club: Knox County Health Clinic, Camden Area District Nursing Association, Knox County Homeless Coalition, P.A.W.S. Animal Adoption Center and New Hope for Women, 

Camden Rotary Club meets for lunch every Tuesday and welcomes individuals who wish to serve others and play an active role in community life. Grant applications for 2019 will be available next January. For more information, visit camdenrotary.org.