PORTSMOUTH — 17 years ago, a group of Portsmouth area ladies started a new nonprofit group, PALS, Inc. to benefit the community and improve the quality of life for the residents in the Portsmouth area.
The premise was quite simple. A group of volunteers, all ladies, do fundraising through events and then distribute that money to other organizations in the community for a variety of needs through grants.
From that simple premise and a lot of hard work by members, PALS has donated over $200,000 back to our community.
Our most recent fundraiser, PALS Designer Purse Bingo was a huge success, thanks to all our members and to the public who have been such great supporters of PALS and our efforts. We could not do what we do without the community’s support.
Tami Davis, President of PALS, says “2024 has been a great year for PALS.” “We’ve been able to provide funding through our grant requests to several organizations to date. Our goal is to provide funding to area organizations to ‘Help Make Portsmouth a Better Place.’”
Grants made since the beginning of PALS include grants to Scioto County Health Coalition, the Homeless Shelter, Scioto County Children’s Services, Hillview, Cirq d Art, RSVP, SOLO, Area Agency on Aging and the Counseling Center.
Grants have also been made to Portsmouth Public Library, Scioto County ESC, the Red Cross, Portsmouth Little Theatre, local food pantries, the Floodwall, SOPPA, and Hollydays.
In addition, Friends of Greenlawn, Rotary of Portsmouth, the Portsmouth Area Arts Council, Main St. Portsmouth, SOMC Hospice and Ohio River Valley T1d have also been the beneficiaries of PALS’ grants.
Portsmouth Wind Symphony, Portsmouth Civic Chorale, Salvation Army, Portsmouth Little League, Watch Me Grow, Scioto County Heritage Museum and Steven A. Hunter Hope Fund have been the recipients of grants to help their programs.
PALS has also helped Sierra’s Haven, Animal Welfare League, St. Francis Catholic Outreach, Trillium Project, Hisle House, Friends of Portsmouth, Friends of Brush Creek and Potter’s House Ministries, as well as the Scioto County Historical Society.
Our next grant application is due on February 20th for anyone who would like to request a grant. It is available at www.portsmouthpals.org.
We welcome any ladies who would like to join us as we have fun raising money to give away to worthy causes. Just go to the website above and complete an application.