Thanks to donations from Ventura County residents, the Ventura County Community Foundation (VCCF) has granted more than $18,000 to three fellow community foundations directly involved in the rebuilding of communities overwhelmed by Hurricane Katrina.

The Greater New Orleans Community Foundation, the Foundation for the Mid-South and the Foundation of Greater Birmingham are each the recipients of $6,215 in donations from VCCF.

Funds were collected over the past 60 days with the Foundation’s Special and Urgent Needs Fund making a matching gift of $5,000 to support relief efforts.

“We have chosen to partner with community foundations that are on the ground in the affected areas because we believe they are in the best position to determine which organizations are most effectively serving their communities,” said VCCF President Hugh Ralston. “By including local community members in their course of action, these foundations are incorporating the voice of those who were victims of Katrina in how to best provide relief and begin the rebuilding process.”

The three organizations chosen to receive these grants have each established specific funds to serve a particular purpose within the disaster relief efforts. The Greater New Orleans Community Foundation has established the Rebuild New Orleans Fund, which is designed to create an infrastructure for the community that works for everyone. In addition, they are committed to rebuilding a better New Orleans and honoring the social contract to involve the whole community.

The Foundation for the MidSouth’s Hurricane Katrina Recovery and Restoration Fund will benefit those impacted by the disaster in Arkansas, Mississippi and Louisiana plus the Alabama Gulf Coast. In its mission, the fund will continuously emphasize that need doesn’t begin and end at the Gulf Coast. Communities throughout the Mid-South are also affected by the influx of hundreds of thousands of evacuees who fled the storm.

The Foundation of Greater Birmingham has put into place the Hurricane Katrina Displaced Residents Fund. In this program donations will be used to support and meet the needs of people who have been evacuated to the greater Birmingham area from the Gulf Coast regions devastated by Hurricane Katrina. Housing, food, education, healthcare and basic survival necessities are needed in this region.

Created in 1987, the Ventura County Community Foundation is a family of charitable funds whose combined assets now exceed $70 million. Grants made in 2005 are projected at more than $4 million, including more than $600,000 in scholarships to Ventura County students. The Foundation promotes and enables philanthropy to build long-term capital. For more information, visit www.vccf.org.