COLUMBIA, July 18, 2019 – The Hootie & the Blowfish Foundation announced its third annual multi-year grant cycle donations, granting a total of $120,000 over three years to four South Carolina charities working on projects that benefit veteran services and youth arts programs within the state of South Carolina.
The four organizations and their projects are:
• The Big Red Barn Retreat: Horse Inspired Growth — This program will serve three distinct military groups in South Carolina who struggle with PTSD and trauma: male national guardsmen, female veterans, and post 9-11 male combat veterans. Through weekly meetings supported by professional facilitators, the clients will engage in interactions with horses, creating a space for them to reflect and learn new skills while making deep connections.
• Hampton District One Schools: Bringing Back the Band — Over the three-year period, this program will allow the district to purchase a variety of woodwind, brass, and percussion instruments that will be used by students with limited resources.
• South Carolina National Guard Foundation: Post Deployment Seminars — Using an alliance of peers, mental health professionals, and chaplains, this free 3-day seminar provides a space for service members and their families to find healing and a sense of resiliency as they work on war zone reactions and transitional issues.
• Williamsburg County School District: Achieving Suburb Band — This school district will evenly divide the funds between each of the district’s three high schools to purchase instruments for their band programs.
These projects join six additional projects funded during the 2017 and 2018 Hootie & the Blowfish Foundation grant cycles. Entering their third year of funding is Carolina Youth Development Center, Growing Home Southeast, and Long Bay Symphonic Society. Entering their second year of funding is Abbeville County School District, Dillon School District Four, and Epworth Children’s Home.
Darius Rucker, Jim Sonefeld, Dean Felber and Mark Bryan embraced their fortuitous career with the communities that support them. To this end, the band members created an endowment that ensures their foundation will last into perpetuity providing financial support to charitable initiatives throughout South Carolina and beyond.
Since the endowment’s creation in 2000, The Hootie & the Blowfish Foundation has awarded more than $2.8 million in grants. These grants have impacted thousands of citizens by supporting the ongoing fight for an even playing field in educational funding and lending an encouraging hand to all those in need.
Hootie & the Blowfish established their donor-advised fund at Central Carolina Community Foundation, the Midlands’ center for philanthropy, to strengthen the Hootie & the Blowfish Foundation’s philanthropic efforts. The Community Foundation acts as a centralized point of contact for all grant requests and manages its grant administration, evaluation, outreach, and distribution.
For more information, visit www.YourFoundation.org.

About Central Carolina
Community Foundation
Central Carolina Community Foundation, the Midlands’ center for philanthropy, is a nonprofit organization serving 11 counties in the Midlands by distributing grants and scholarships and linking the resources of donors, nonprofits and area leaders to communities in need. Major initiatives include the online giving challenge Midlands Gives, On the Table, Connected Communities grants, the One SC Fund, annual scholarships, and more. For more information about the Foundation, visit www.yourfoundation.org or call 803.254.5601.