Social Justice Grants

Social Justice Grants are grants from St. Thomas Aquinas Church and Catholic Student Center that fund local, national, and international organizations promoting the corporal and spiritual works of mercy. The grants specifically support efforts to advance peace, alleviate poverty, and address human suffering.

Awards are funded by a percentage of the parish's weekly collections and direct donations, with at least 50% of funds required to remain in Story County. Applications must be submitted by parishioners of STA on behalf of an eligible organization. Past recipients have included community organizing, affordable housing, and social services organizations.

Typical grants range from $500 to $3,500. The application deadline for the current cycle is April 30, 2026.

_Social Justice Grants: **Applications****Due April 30, 2026**_ Social Justice Grants are awarded to local, national, and international organizations that promote the corporal and spiritual works of mercy, particularly by promoting peace and alleviating poverty and human suffering. The grants, which are awarded annually, are funded by a percentage of the parish's weekly collections as well as direct donations.

Applications for grants must come from parishioners of STA on behalf of an organization. Complete the grant application form and submit it electronically according to the instructions at the bottom of the form. A subcommittee of the STA Social Justice Committee reviews the applications and determines the awards, with the constraint that at least 50% of the funds must remain in Story County.

Click here to download the grant application. This application form is a fillable rtf template that should work for most word processing applications. ### **Grants Awarded for 2024 - 2025** **A Mid-Iowa Organizing Strategy (AMOS)** AMOS organizes people to find concrete, specific, and winnable solutions to the problems plaguing families in central Iowa.

The problems have involved health care and mental health, affordable housing, juvenile justice reform, workforce development, infrastructure improvements, and immigration. AMOS has amassed a track record of finding solutions to otherwise divisive, complex public problems through an intensive, win-win, non-partisan approach to politics.

The grant is used to pay for training for AMOS leaders (the people participating from member organizations), arrange events and actions, and support the lead organizer. Much of the effort of AMOS is expended on developing leadership skills that allow people to tackle public problems effectively.

**Ames Ecumenical Housing, Inc. (AEH)** AEH is a church-sponsored non-profit group cooperating with the Department of House and Urban Development to provide affordable housing to seniors and persons with mobility impairment. STA is among its founding (1984) member institutions. AEH owns tow residences: Keystone, with 65 unites, and Stonehaven, with 56 units.

The grant will be used for community building activities for residents, enhancement of public spaces, and occasional short-term needs of residents. **Ames Interfaith Refugee Alliance (AIRA)** AIRA uses its funds to assist recent arrivals in many ways, including housing, furniture and other home necessities, transportation, and English language programs.

AIRA also offers financial assistance so children can participate in school and community programs. The funds from STA will improve the lives of immigrant and refugee families in our community. **Ames Romero House (ARH)** The Ames Romero House provides daytime assistance so that people in need can come to share food, fellowship, and access amenities such as showers, laundry, and Wi-Fi.

Inspired by the Catholic Worker movement, ARH bases their work rests on principles of solidarity with those experiencing poverty, hospitality towards them, and fostering community connections. The Social Justice grant will help ARH renovate the house at their new location.

**Engineers Without Borders at Iowa State University (EWB)** The Engineers Without Borders student chapter at Iowa State University (EWB-ISU) comprises about 100 students working to make the world a better place. Since 2013, EWB-ISU has worked with the community of Ullo, Ghana on projects to provide a safe and sustainable water supply and sanitation, build a health clinic, and construct a pedestrian footbridge over a dam.

Along with teams that work at ISU, EWB-ISU sends travel teams to Ullo during the summer and winter breaks to assess the community's needs, monitor current projects, and implement new projects. Funds from the Social Justice grant will help with constructing the health clinic. Food at First provides seven meals per week for the hungry in our community - no questions asked.

Food that would be otherwise thrown away by local grocers and restaurants is used to prepare the meals, and leftovers are sent home with guests. Food at First also runs a food pantry - the Free Market - that distributes meat, produce, bakery good, and dairy products at no cost three times a week. several STA parishioners prepare meals, help at the market, and glean food from ISU and several Ames businesses.

Funds would support Food at First's work in feeding our community. **Martha’s House of Hope (MHOH)** Martha’s House of Hope is a home for pregnant mothers and their babies. Martha's House of Hope provides shelter, life skills, and hope while helping to impart self-reliance, a sense of service, and the realization of the mother's God-given dignity.

MHOH offers a safe home and living assistance for pregnant women in need, and they accept women regardless of their faith or beliefs, in a home that openly presents spirituality. Funds from the grant will be used to support costs of housing.

**Medical Mission Sisters (MMS)** The Medical Mission Sisters manage and finance a hospital in Attat, Ethiopia as part of an integrated project to provide health care and rural development that serves an area of 800,000 people.

Over half of the services at Attat Hospital focus on the health of mothers and children: some of the hospital beds serve as a maternal waiting area for women with complicated pregnancies and as a nutrition rehabilitation unit for mothers with malnourished children. The hospital beds are always fully occupied, and an average of 375 people use the services of the out-patient department every day.

The Social Justice grant would be used for maternity housing. **One Heart Catholic Missions (OHCM)** One Heart Catholic Missions does domestic and international mission work, including providing food and clothing, improving shelter conditions and school facilities, and helping with medical needs. Since 2014, OHCM has taken groups of 3-20 local teens and college students (and some parents) on trips of 7-10 days to Nicaragua.

Each mission trip includes construction, visits to an orphanage and schools, and in-home visits to the sick and elderly. Funds from this grant will provide wholesome meals for people living in Chinandega, Nicaragua. **One Life One Heart International (OLOH)** One Life One Heart International offers programs, including healing and empowerment programs, for men and women of all ages who have suffered sexual abuse.

The work is community-based, victim-centered, and interaction/based, and it is offered primarily through local churches within communities. OLOH also complies resources related to sexual abuse to promote better public understanding of sexual abuse. The Social Justice grant will be used to provide services to survivors of sexual abuse.

**The Bridge Home (TBH)** The Bridge Home (formerly Emergency Residence Project) provides a continuum of care including street outreach, homelessness prevention, emergency shelter, transitional housing, supportive housing, rapid re-housing and connection to supportive services. They serve a five-county area, including Story, Boone, Hardin, Green, and Marshall. Funds will be used to provide shelter for those who need it.

**Wild Rose Center (WRC)** Located on the Northern Cheyenne Indian Reservation in southeastern Montana, the Wild Rose Center provides Sage Women Warriors a place to meet for spiritual programs, healing and retreats; these women learn how to empower themselves physically, spiritually, and financially.

The center hosts events and meetings beneficial to the Cheyenne community and assists with meals, grief counseling, homelessness assessments, and other services. Funds from STA will be used to offer healthy cooking classes, cultural programming, and programs to reduce the suicide rate, especially among young people.