On a business trip last fall, Tommy and Terri Strickland learned about the York Children’s Foundation.

Funded by the Matthews International Casket Division, one of Thomas C. Strickland and Sons Funeral Home’s suppliers, the York Children’s Foundation awards quarterly grants to non-profit organizations that assist children.

“We immediately thought of Treutlen House,” Terri Strickland said. “We were just glad we were told about (the grant program). We felt like there was a purpose in that.”

When the Stricklands returned from that trip, Terri got to work on securing a grant for Treutlen House at New Ebenezer, a group home for boys in the foster-care system. She contacted Treutlen House director Bobbie Tootle, who then submitted the grant application.

Treutlen House learned earlier this summer it had been awarded one of the grants, and the Stricklands presented the check Friday. It was a boost after the state reduced its funding to Treutlen House — the type of cuts that have caused group homes in other communities to shut down.

“So, honestly, we are surviving because of our community here,” Tootle said. “This community puts it as a high importance. It is amazing.”

While the $500 grant might sound like a drop in the bucket to help the seven children currently living at Truetlen House, Tootle said it will go a long way. The funds will be used for necessities such as groceries, school supplies or school clothes.

“We usually spend about $150 per child (on back-to-school clothes),” she said. “The state sometimes reimburses us that, but a lot of times we don’t see that money.”

That makes any monetary donation, however big or small, vital to the non-profit mission, Tootle said. She added that Treutlen House can always use donations of items such as toiletries, towels, bed sheets and blankets, as well as volunteers to give their time.

In fact, the Stricklands said their main goal is pursuing the York Children’s Foundation grant was to raise awareness of Treutlen House. Tootle agreed that “there are still so many people who don’t even know we exist” despite Treutlen House being part of the community for a dozen years.

“They have success story after success story about children who were going to be lost … yet they turned out to be productive citizens who give back. That’s an important ministry,” Terri Strickland said.

“A few years ago, we were about to lose that place. It takes a lot of funding,” Tommy Strickland said. “People came together and made it work, but we don’t want to sit back and let it go again.”

For more information about Treutlen House, visit http://www.treutlenhouse.org.