The Paul and Mary Lou Wood Foundation Fund at the Cattaraugus Region Community Foundation recently made possible five annual grants, together totaling $4,038.51, to charitable causes important to Paul and Mary Lou Wood.
The Woods, who have called Olean home for 50 years, established the fund at CRCF to give back to the community by supporting local causes important to their family.
The Franciscan Center for Social Concern at St. Bonaventure University received $1,561.52. The Paul and Mary Lou Wood Foundation Fund for the Franciscan Center for Social Concern, which was established by the Woods in 2019 to bolster their support of the organization, provided a second grant to the center for social concern for $915.48.
Despite having moved away from the area, the Wood children continue to volunteer at the Warming House, an Olean soup kitchen managed by the Franciscan Center for Social Concern, every Christmas when they return to the area to visit their parents.
The center for social concern administers a number of community-based programs, including BonaBuddies, a mentoring program for area youth, service trips that impact those in need locally and abroad, among others.
St. Bonaventure University received $520.51 as an annual grant.
The university is particularly dear to the heart of the Woods as Paul taught in the French department for many years. The Woods’ children swam in the Reilly Center pool every afternoon of the summer during their youth. Three of the Woods’ four children went on to swim in college.
The Woods established the Paul and Mary Lou Wood Swim Scholarship at CRCF in 2016 to provide an annual scholarship of $10,000 for a member of the men or women’s swim team at St. Bonaventure University.
The Basilica of St. Mary of the Angels, where the Woods attend in addition to the St. Bonaventure parish in Allegany, received a $520.50 grant.
The Olean General Hospital Foundation also received a grant of $520.50.
“When you talk to Paul and Mary Lou, it is obvious how much they love this community and how proud they are to have called it home for so many years,” said CRCF Executive Director Karen Niemic Buchheit. “They also believe it is a community that deserves support, and they have very generously chosen to provide that support in a meaningful and lasting way.”
Donations can be made to the Paul and Mary Lou Wood Foundation Fund at CRCF, 301 North Union St., Suite 203 or online at cattfoundation.org.
The Cattaraugus Region Community Foundation is the area’s supportive, responsive and trusted community foundation. Established in 1994, CRCF is growing good by connecting donors to the causes they care about most in the region. Grants from the foundation support many areas, including education, scholarships, health care, the arts, community development, human service, and youth development. To learn more, call (716) 301-CRCF (2723), email [email protected], or visit online at www.cattfoundation.org. CRCF is also on Facebook (facebook.com/cattfoundation) and Twitter (@CattFoundation).
