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Into the life of an organization, a little grant must fall. In the case of New York City Voices, the grant is $5,000 and heaven is "The New York Community Trust's Clara A. Gierisch Fund."

The purpose of the funding is to "build the capacity of a newspaper written for and published by mental health consumers." New York Community Trust (NYCT) strives to make disadvantaged groups more self-reliant.

In this case, the trust's $5,000 will help pay for Voices' first volunteer coordinator. This coordinator will make sure that New York City Voices has adequate, quality volunteers as reporters and office workers. In turn, volunteers will receive the training and support they need to find paid employment in a related field.

As an otherwise all-volunteer organization, Voices needs volunteers who are well-trained and well-organized. Although volunteers may be vital to the operation, they have not received the attention they deserved because soliciting, writing, and editing articles always came first.

Not only is the grant from the New York Community Trust the first grant gained by Voices, it also enables us to pay a staff member consistently for the first time. Daniel Frey, who has been the part-time, volunteer Editor-in-Chief of Voices, will become the volunteer coordinator at $10 per hour, 20 hours per week, or $10,000 for the year. His editorial duties will continue.

The conditions of the grant include the following: Voices must match the $5,000 from NYCT with $5,000 from other sources, namely the money we gained from the October 4, 2003 benefit, Voices' first benefit in four years. Voices intends to make the benefit an annual event so that we can continue to pay for the volunteer coordinator. This is another condition of the grant.

Voices is grateful to the New York Community Trust, the Clara A. Gierisch Fund, and NYCT's president Lorie A. Slutsky for the generous gift. We also wish to thank the Mental Health Association of New York City for acting as the fiscal manager for the grant.

This $5,000 is more than just a financial shot in the arm. It represents the first recognition by the foundation community that Voices provides a vital service to recipients of mental health services. We especially appreciate NYCT's recognition that consumers can take their destiny into their own hands through the time-honored communication device of a grassroots newspaper.