ELLSWORTH – The Knox County Committee of the Maine Community Foundation recently awarded $18,250 in grants to five nonprofits, including Five Town Communities that Care in Rockport.

The funding will help to continue FTCC’s Math and Literacy Mentors program, which seeks to support students in their schoolwork before they fall behind, according to a press release from the foundation.

“We are extremely grateful for this donation,” Five Town CTC Executive Director Dalene Dutton told the Bangor Daily News on Friday. “Generous support such as this helps us to ensure that youth in our community continue to reap the benefits of our proven program, which are at the heart of our efforts to promote healthful youth development.”

Grant awards also were made to:

. Coastal Mountains Land Trust, Camden, for the Bald Mountain Trail Rehabilitation and Habitat Protection project.

. Freedom Riders, Warren, to secure and equip a small office and hire a part-time administrative assistant.

. MacDougal School, Rockland, for Spanish language instruction for students at the MacDougal School and the South School.

. Trekkers Inc., Tenants Harbor, for a nine-day Cross-America program for 10th-grade Trekkers.

The Knox County Fund is a permanent endowment that supports projects that strengthen communities in the county, the press release indicated. The next proposal deadline is Jan. 15, 2009. An application and guidelines can be found at www.mainecf.org.

The Knox County Fund is built through donations from the community. Anyone wishing to donate to the fund should contact Cherie Galyean, Maine CF regional coordinator, at 877-700-6800 or cgalyean@mainecf.org.

For information on the Maine Community Foundation, go to www.mainecf.org.

gchappell@bangordailynews.net

236-4598