Four organizations that help Sakonnet-area residents in myriad ways have won grants totaling $37,000 from the Rhode Island Foundation. They include:

The Herren Project

The Tiverton-based organization received $10,000 to support and expand upon recovery and family services programming in Newport County to meet the critical need for prevention, mental health, and intervention strategies. In addition to treatment navigation, Herren Project offers recovery scholarships for individuals, as well as one on one phone consultations and 27 different online support groups for family members and loved ones directly affected by addiction. 

“We meet people wherever they are at in their recovery journey,” executive director Bonnie Sawyer said. “Our distinctive family support services empower family members to best care for themselves and navigate their loved one’s addiction so they can begin to heal.”

The Katie Brown Educational Program

Founded in Barrington after the domestic-violence related death of 20-year-old Katie Brown, the organization eceived $7,000 to provide prevention education to Little Compton and Tiverton students in grades four through 12. Through the KBEP students learn skills necessary to recognize, avoid, and prevent relationship violence by shifting unhealthy attitudes and changing behaviors. 

"Our programming will improve their ability to identify warning signs of violent or unhealthy relationships and their acquisition of protective social emotional learning skills as well as decrease the prevalence and longevity of violent relationship experiences in youth,” executive director Claire McVicker said. “While eliminating their interactions with violent individuals are a statistical impossibility, improving their ability to more quickly and effectively identify risk behaviors and highlight safe exit strategies are likely to reduce the amount of time spent in violent relationships and encourage safer disengagement.”

The Little Compton Community Center 

The center, which prepares meals for pick up, home delivery and in its dining room, received $10,000 to support its senior lunch program. 

The program “has become an important part of our recipients social and emotional wellness, providing a place to connect in a comfortable atmosphere over an affordable and delicious meal,” executive director Amy Mooney said.

Meals are offered Monday, Wednesday and Friday of each week, with the exception of major holidays.

The Little Compton Food Bank

The beceived $10,000 to support operations. Open Fridays from 1 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. and Saturdays from 9 a.m. to 10:30 a.m., it serves approximately 60 households a week.  

 "We know that our food bank serves only a portion of the population in Tiverton and Little Compton that is going hungry for lack of assistance,” Carter Wilkie, president of the board of trustees, said. “For every person we serve, there are more who can't get to us for whatever reason, or who may be too shy to come in. This grant will help us partner with other local organizations to identify ways to reach more of the people in need who are not getting our help.”