First Horizon Bank has invested $1.6 million in 160 nonprofits across the bank’s 12-state service area to celebrate First Horizon’s 160th anniversary. With some 3,500 requests for help, First Horizon Foundation selected four Knoxville-area nonprofits. Award winners of $10,000 each were recognized at a “Grant for Good” breakfast on June 20 at First Horizon Plaza, 800 S. Gay Street, Knoxville.
Jim Atchley, First Horizon’s Knoxville market president, called the campaign “an incredible opportunity … to invest in communities and support organizations that are making significant impacts across our region.” Local recipients are:
- Food4Vols – The University of Tennessee, Knoxville’s Culinary Institute (located within the College of Education, Health and Human Sciences, Department of Retail, Hospitality and Tourism Management) has created the food4VOLS program to end hunger and waste on campus. Partnering with Vol Dining, food4VOLS collects usable food from campus outlets and transports the food to The University of Tennessee Culinary Institute where the food is transformed by students into ready-to-heat and ready-to-eat meals that are distributed to those with food insecurity through The Big Orange Pantry.
- Mental Health Association of East Tennessee – The Mental Health Association educates, advocates for and serves East Tennessee by supporting mental wellness and recovery with respect and dignity for all. The MHAET’s Treatment Access Bank helps people that have financial challenges get quality mental health care. The organization covers up to fifteen therapy sessions with a licensed therapist and connects people with the Peer Recovery Call Center for support while in the program and beyond. While some people can get therapy through programs like Medicare and Medicaid, many people with private insurance may still have gaps that make therapy hard to afford- which is where the MHAET comes in.
- The Restoration House – The Restoration House serves single parents and their children in Knoxville. TRH was founded on the belief that through partnership and collaboration, everyone wins; as such, TRH desires not to reproduce services, but to work with other organizations to fill in the system gaps for single-parent families and their children. Grants for Good funding will support homeownership access for low-income families through homebuyer and financial literacy education in partnership with HomeSource East Tennessee and the Chalmers Center.
- Wesley House Community Center – Wesley House works to empower and serve the Beaumont, Lonsdale and Mechanicsville communities in Knoxville. The organization focuses on: providing high-quality, affordable and accessible childcare; social connections in the senior population; and the emerging needs of the 37921 zip code. Grants for Good funding will support affordable after-school and summer programming.
A complete list of all the nonprofit recipients of the Grants for Good campaign can be found here.
First Horizon contributed quotes and information for this report.