Granted

Several months ago, I was told that I should apply for grants to help fund the Urban Arts ministry I am starting in Detroit. I smiled and said "ok" and figured that I just had to fill out some forms to be approved. Boy was I wrong. Grant writing is a foreign language. Well, it use to be. But now, at least, I can understand a little with the help of books.:) So I set my mind to writing a grant proposal for the two week camp at City Mission. I scurried around to gather the information I needed to write the proposal before the deadline approached. The day of the deadline arrived and I was satisfied that everything was in order. I faxed it in. I waited in anticipation for a month before I received the letter in the mail. The proposal was rejected. It was a huge disappointment. I think it was more of a disappointment because everyone I talked with was so positive that the grant would come through for our specific program. Now, understand that in my eyes, this did not determine whether we would run the camps. I serve an awesome God and knew that I was called to run the camps and didn't let money (or the lack of it) make the final call.

The week before camp, I was talking with someone at City Mission and they asked about the status of the grant. I said briefly that we did not get it, but we decided to do garage sales. (for 5 weekends). The person was shocked. They said I should reapply. But the foundation doesn't run that way. You have to wait a year. Well, the Lord didn't want us to wait that long because someone from City Mission took our grant and reapplied it for us under their ministry. By the end of the first week of camp we got news that we had been awarded the grant! I was so excited. The Lord truly went before us!

So at the end of the two weeks, I set up a meeting with someone who was going to help me finish the evaluation for the foundation regarding the program. The morning I was to meet her, I called her and she said, 'I have some bad news.' She proceeded to tell me that someone from the foundation said that they would not release the grant to us because our program had already ended and there was miscommunication. Once again, I was shocked. What could I do though? Pray and ask others to pray. So we began praying. I rescheduled the meeting for a week later. (which was this past week) When I arrived, my contact still was not very positive about us getting the money but said we could go ahead with the evaluation. At the end of our meeting she made a phone call to the foundation about a question we had. In the conversation, the lady who works at the foundation said, 'oh, by the way, your check is in the mail for the grant'. Unbelievable! It was prayers and God's GRANT!

So, to say the least...I learned a lot about grants, foundations and the likes! I have just turned another grant proposal in that is on a larger scale to cover the expenses of our start up for fall. Please be in prayer the the Lord has His way in that as well.