Cathedral Church of St. Peter Microgrant Program

We work to transform the lives of the vulnerable through food, health education, relationship building, and inclusivity initiatives.

The Cathedral funds projects through a competitive grant program that is open to all non-profits. The microgrant program is designed to encourage connection between the Cathedral and organizations that work to transform the lives of the vulnerable through food, health, education, relationship building and inclusivity initiatives.

The Cathedral, through its Outreach Committee, has $2,500 in available grant funds for this grant cycle. We anticipate awarding grants between $200-$750 to organizations with compelling requests. This grant cycle will run from September 16 through October 31. Awards will be made in November 2024.

If you have questions, please contact Hillary Peete (hpeete@spcathedral.com).

Who may apply? Not-for-profit organizations may apply. If the organization does not have an official 501(c)(3) status, the committee may ask for additional financial documents. The applicant needs to affiliated with the organization requesting funding. The grant is not limited geographically.

Requirements: Complete the application form and provide a compelling, detailed, and thoughtful description of the project and goals. Microgrant requests to cover operational budgets will not be considered.

We believe there is profound strength in diversity and we stand firmly against hatred, bigotry, racism, and discrimination of any kind. The Cathedral microgrant program will not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, gender, national origin, disability, or sexual orientation in the application process.

Spring 2024 Grant Recipients

Homeless Empowerment Program - $500
Meal Services Program
The mission of HEP is to provide homeless and very low-income individuals and families, including veterans, with housing, food, clothing and support services necessary to obtain self-sufficiency and improved quality of life. The grant award will help provide the over 230 daily meals the HEP serves daily. 
https://www.hepempowers.org/

Bridge of Hope Kitchen - $400
The Bridge of Hope Kitchen is a bridge between communities and schools in Pinellas County. The mission is to help reduce hunger by identifying food insecure and homeless children and provide them with a warm, nutritious dinner. The grant award will provide a meal for children and families, who also receive tutoring and job-search assistance. 
https://www.thehopekitchen.com/

Good Samaritan Food Pantry - $300
The congregational mission at Good Samaritan Church is to build Beloved Community. The Food Pantry fulfills a piece of this mission by feeding the hungry, lightening the burden of systemic poverty, and sharing the love and hospitality with those in need. The grant will purchase canned meat, which is always in high demand. 
discovergoodsam.org

St. Pete High School Green Devils Closet - $400
The Green Devils Closet works to "promote dignity and model benevolence" for any member of the Green Devil family without judgement in order to promote success in school, job placement, and in the community. The grant will purchase gift cards for families to purchase needed items such as food, cleaning supplies, or hygiene products. 
www.pcsb.org/domain/10671

Starting Right, Now - $500
Starting Right, Now engages a comprehensive continuum-of-care approach to end the generational cycle of homelessness and poverty in unaccompanied youth attending high school in Pinellas and Hillsborough County. Each student receives one-on-one mentoring, encouraging future perspectives and teaches enduring skills for self-sufficiency. This grant will support evening meals served family style, helping teens develop healthy behaviors with food and learning about nutrition. 
startingrightnow.org

The Kind Mouse Productions - $400
The Kind Mouse Mission is to assist families in transition and their chronically hungry children while developing the next generation of volunteers. This grant supports the Mouse Nibbles program which provides weekend/out of school food packages to low-income, food insecure children. 

Fall 2023 Grant Recipients

$500 to MrBubblez
MrBubbles provides mobile showers, hygiene kits, clean clothes to homeless and at-risk of becoming homeless in the Tampa Bay area partnering with Trinity Café and Metropolitan Ministries.

$200 to Jill Kelley Foundation Heart 4 Homeless
Funds from the grant will purchase a Zoom membership to allow tutors to spend more time teaching and instructing homeless children than the 40 minute free sessions.

$500 to Golden Generations
The grant will support My Sistah’s Place, which helps young women, especially those aging out of foster care by providing stable housing life skills, academic and career support and mentorship services.

$400 to Girls on the Run
Girls on the Run is a physical activity-based positive youth development program designed to help girls cultivate specific, fundamental life skills. The grant will provide entry fees, snacks and water for hydration stations for their end of season Celebration 5K, which is open to all genders, ages and abilities.

$400 to Story 727
This relatively new group will use the grant to help purchase items to be used for distribution and storage when they distribute food to areas in St. Petersburg where quality food is hard to acquire.

$500 to Project Prosper
Immigrants and refugees have an overwhelming need for financial literacy and loan services with mentoring and credit reporting to ensure their financial stability and inclusion. Project Prosper strives to empower recent immigrants by educating them on the American financial system. We believe in the value of both traditional education and experiential learning and have created a comprehensive approach to providing our services.

Spring 2023 Grant Recipients

$700 to Mercy Keepers
Mercy Keepers operates an outdoor food pantry through which they distribute refrigerated foods including meats and milk, canned goods, and other household and hygiene items as available. Their project: The microgrant will be used to help purchase a refrigerator for drivethrough food pickup. The board of Mercy Keepers had agreed to supplement the grant for the purchase of the refrigerator unit.

$600 to Starting Right, Now
This organization offers care and support to unaccompanied youth attending high school in Pinellas and Hillsborough counties. The goal is to break the cycle of homelessness and poverty. Their project: The grant is to be used to provide weekend dinners for the 20 youths currently residing at their Pinellas transitional housing facility, which costs $4 per dinner per youth.

$400 to NicerFL/Southwest Florida Newcomer Immigrant Educational Center, Inc.
NicerFL is a welcoming and supportive educational center for new immigrants who are looking to adjust and be successful in a new social, educational and work environment in Pinellas and Manatee counties. Their project: The grant will be used to support their “Refugee and New Immigrant Support Teams,” which deliver in-person and online program services, including job search and career coaching, newcomer immigrant-youth tutoring programs, and small-group English conversation and life skills.

$400 to Foyer de Sara Children’s Home
The Children’s Home in Haiti provides food, shelter, health care, and Christian education and skills to successfully transition to living independently. The school is currently fighting outbreaks of cholera, skyrocketing prices for food, and threats from armed gangs that have essentially overtaken Haiti. Their project: The Haitian government provides zero assistance for schools. The Children’s Home must cover the funds to send their children to school by providing tuition fees, teaching staff, books, uniforms, school supplies, and other fees. They currently have 32 children in school. It costs an average of $800 per child per year. The grant will pay for one child for one-half year. We support Foyer de Sara through Skyline Church of Christ in Jackson, TN.

$400 to Bridge of Hope Kitchen
Bridge of Hope Kitchen provides hot dinner meals for school-age children and their parents/guardians in south St. Petersburg. Their facility is equipped with a computer lab and a certified teacher (STEM qualified) who is available to assist students, and parents can use job-search services. Their project: Funds will be used to purchase food and amenities.

Fall 2022 Grant Recipients

$750 to Farmworkers Self-Help, Inc.

The grant is to be used to purchase roofing materials to replace the badly-leaking roofs over their social service office and food pantry. Labor will be provided by roofers from their community.

The mission of Farmworkers Self-Help is to facilitate the self-development of the whole person, families and communities toward self-reliance and personal independence, through community organizing, education, advocacy, justice and empowerment, and health, among farmworkers and other poor.

$550 to Green Devils’ Closet and Pantry

The grant is to be used stock a 54 square foot closet in a classroom at St. Petersburg High School. Specifically, it will be used to purchase supplies for students in need, including feminine products, underwear, food, cleaning supplies, sneakers.

The mission of the Green Devil’s Closet and Pantry is to provide food, household/school supplies, uniforms/undergarments and other needed items to any member of the Green Devil family without question or judgment to promote success in school, job placement and in the community.

$500 CASA (Community Action Stops Abuse) Family Justice Center

While at the FJC, children who are accompanying their parent and are brought to the youth center will be provided with age-appropriate activities, access to toys, books, and food. CASA staff include 3 youth advocates who are specially training in client centered and trauma-informed practices. There will also be a licensed mental health counselor, should the children need it, and representative from the school district.

The mission of CASA: Challenging the Societal Acceptance of all Forms of Domestic Violence, CASA Stands up to Silence through Advocacy, Prevention, Intervention, and Support Services.

$500 Corporation to Develop Communities of Tampa/DBA Safe and Sound Hillsborough

Grant funds will be used for food and program materials for the Evening Reporting Center (ERC). While at the ERC, youth (who are court ordered to the center for 21-90 days) receive academic assistance, mentorship, vocational exposure and group/individual counseling/therapy, all in an effort to reduce recidivism.

The Hillsborough County Community Violence Prevention Collaborative was created in the summer of 2013 as an initiative to transform the way local policy makers address violence. This initiative shifts policy from a public safety to a public health model and aligns community and professional stakeholders to develop a comprehensive prevention and intervention approach.

$500 to St. Petersburg Youth Farm

The grant will be used to acquire materials to build 3-4 rectangular planter boxes by the sidewalk along 12th St. between 16th and 17th Ave S.

The St. Pete Youth Farm was established to provide access to nutritious food in South St. Petersburg, FL. We encourage leadership, entrepreneurship and career readiness to develop future leaders in our community.

Spring 2022 Grant Recipients

$500 to The Kind Mouse Productions

The grant is to be used to purchase food for the Mouse Nibbles program which provides weekend/out of school food packages to low-income, food insecure children. The program supplies seven Pinellas County schools.

$500 to Refugee and Migrant Women’s Initiative (RAMWI)

The grant will be used for their Wellness Support Project, which gathers refugee women, especially new arrivals, to give them an experience of community and a safe place to learn how things are done in this country. Specific examples of uses: translators, transportation expenses, educational items.

$500 to Clothes to Kids, Inc.

The grant will be used to purchase underwear for children. As part of each wardrobe and shopping trip a child receives 5 new pairs of underwear. The $500 microgrant would allow more than 57 children to receive 5 new pairs of underwear. Each year Clothes to Kids provides more than $65,000 worth of underwear.

$700 to Good Samaritan Food Pantry (Pinellas Park)

The grant will be used to purchase canned meat for their Pantry Bags. The bags, distributed twice per month, contain mac & cheese, cans of soup, vegetables, fruit, cereal, crackers, peanut butter, canned meat, bread, dairy products, etc. They serve over 1,700 people per month, up from 120.

$300 to Victor Newman Ministries

The grant will be used to purchase commercial insulated/storage containers to be used by volunteers to provide meat to those they serve. They deliver two tons of food to food insecure citizens in Pinellas County.