2023 Community Grants

Southeast Montana Area Revitalization Team (SMART)

Location: Baker 

Award: $5,000

The Southeast Montana Area Revitalization Team (SMART) has been committed to supporting and promoting rural Southeast Montana for over 40 years and their “Women In Blue Jeans” project aims to highlight the immeasurable impact women play in their rural community.  It is an intentional photographic essay, capturing the day-to-day lives of Fallon County women working in agriculture in the 2020’s and will be featured in the O’Fallon Historical Museum to teach future generations about the earnestness, strength, and perseverance of the women who worked in agriculture in this moment in time, but also the lives they lived outside of agriculture as well.

 

Catalyst for Change

Location: Big Timber

Award: $3,500

Catalyst for Change (Catalyst) is working to turn the tide on Montana’s mental health crisis by providing local access to comprehensive mental health services. The system works by overcoming common barriers to service access and, using Catalyst’s provider network and Community Health Workers, it ensures that everyone can access quality services locally. Wait times are shortened and the social stigma around receiving care is reduced. Catalyst is beginning to support more communities as they build their own capability through local programs that use this system. They recently renovated an office space in downtown Big Timber to support this growth and the grant from the Red Ants Pants Foundation will help them improve the building's facade to reflect the professional interior.

 

ReImagining Boulder

Location: Boulder

Award: $1,500

The grant money will go toward the restoration of a ghost sign and to the newly proclaimed "Connie Smith Day" with an art show at the Jefferson County Fair. This is in celebration of a local artist active in the 1930's to 1950's, Connie (Cornelius) Smith. His work deserves the community's recognition as an outstanding primitive Western style artist.

 

Bynum (If You Got ‘Em)

Location: Bynum

Award: $1,500

Bynum! (If You Got 'Em) is a one-day music festival on Montana's stunning Rocky Mountain Front. The event draws high-quality music to an opportunity for a diverse group of attendees from around the state to rub shoulders, talk, or share a dance. JD's Wildlife Sanctuary - the only place to belly up or have a bite for miles - hosts this all-ages, donation-based event.

 

Liberty County 4-H Council / MSU Liberty County Extension

Location: Chester

Award: $1,000

The Liberty County 4-H Council provides financial support and guidance to their local 4-H youth clubs. The Council’s goal is to help make it possible for all youth to participate in 4-H activities, no matter what their financial situation. One of the projects that members participate in is raising livestock animals. The grant money received will be used towards the purchase of a small animal scale so members can monitor the growth of their animals and provide a quality product to consumers.

 

Cut Bank Farmers Market

Location: Cut Bank

Award: $500

Cut Bank Farmers Market’s Farm to Table Dinner, sourced entirely from the Golden Triangle in north central Montana, will be held on August 17, 2023. Dinner guests will learn about food systems that are grown and produced locally from Cut Bank Farmers Market vendors and local producers as they gather together around a pasture-to-plate meal. Eating seasonally will also be a focus of the dinner to encourage residents to make food choices that impact their rural community on a greater scale.

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Early Childhood Coalition of Beaverhead County

Location: Dillon

Award: $3,500

The Early Childhood Coalition of Beaverhead County works to increase opportunities for families with children ages 0-5. This grant will provide general operating funds for their indoor play space, which includes developmentally appropriate toys and activities, a pay-what-you-can secondhand store, and parenting classes and support groups.

 

Ladies Ag Night in Hardin

Location: Hardin              

Award: $1,000

Ladies Ag Night in Hardin has been an annual event for local women in the Hardin, Montana area to learn about various agricultural topics. This year will be their 12th time hosting this event, and their planning committee has always been proud to provide a free evening including a meal, networking, and learning from other women in different aspects of agriculture. By empowering local women through education, this grant will greatly help their planning committee to host this event.

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Lewistown Downtown Association

Location: Lewistown

Award: $2,000

Montana's Longest Table is an annual event held in Lewistown, Montana to celebrate the relationship of Central Montana agriculture and the Lewistown business community. The evening includes a buffet style dinner featuring locally raised products prepared by local restaurants, educational outreach booths to deepen the connection to local producers, and a fun, relaxed event that encourages open communication. Their goal is accomplished when attendees leave with a deeper knowledge of where and how their food, fiber, and fuel are raised.

 

Montana Horsepower Retreats

Location: Martinsdale

Award: $1,500

Montana Horsepower Retreats is a nonprofit whose purpose and mission is to provide a safe place for fostering life change, healing, and empowerment, and to provide an opportunity for individuals to connect and grow. The Red Ants Pants Foundation grant will be used for the Breaking Barriers Retreat which is for local White Sulphur Springs girls. They will learn about their temperaments and emotions, working with others, new life skills and empowerment to put these in place, all with the help of a horse.

 

Otium Brewing

Location: Miles City

Award: $1,000

Otium is a Latin term which essentially means time well wasted.  At Otium Brewing they work to epitomize this idea through their community-focused True, Good, and Beautiful series highlighting local nonprofits, artists, and musicians.  The grant from the Red Ants Pants Foundation will help them continue their “Block Party” event, a free summer music series where locals gather at the brewery to enjoy great music and great company.

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Golden Valley Community Foundation

Location: Ryegate

Award: $2,500

Golden Valley Community Foundation is a coalition of local volunteer residents who are passionate about helping their community thrive. Their mission is to support and bring families, youth, elders, and other adults together through healthy, fun activities and to contribute to the well-being and happiness of their residents from all walks of life. This summer they will lay the groundwork for a community garden with a pilot of three enclosed garden plots: a youth project, vegetables for the elderly, and a vegetable/herb garden. In partnership with their school and local extension agent, they will teach gardening workshops and offer cooking classes in order to recruit community members to participate in a functional, sustainable community garden early next summer.

 

Evelyn Cameron Heritage, Inc.

Location: Terry  

Award: $3,000

Evelyn Cameron Heritage, Inc. is a small group of dedicated folks who work tirelessly to champion the legacy of Pioneer photographer Evelyn Cameron through her pictures & her diaries. This grant will be used to promote their brand-new event, Evelyn Cameron Cowgirl Heritage Days – September 22- 24, 2023 – a weekend filled with workshops, tradeshows, competitions, and so much more.

 

Community Project Connection

Location: Worden

Award: $2,500

This year, CPC is focusing on the area their community utilizes the most – Main Street. By doing this, they hope to create an inviting environment to potentially bring in more businesses and foot traffic to their community. CPC is starting off with an 800 square foot mural on the side of Project Merc, which has been serving their community for over 100 years. This building faces Highway 312, the main thoroughfare of Worden. CPC is also raising funds to supply picnic tables at their local baseball fields. The fields are adjacent to Main Street and are a great central location for people to gather. The tables will not only benefit their community members, but also travelers and the many day workers that could use a nice shady spot to stop and enjoy some fresh air.