BHT gifts $150,000 to The DC Center
metroweekly.comIn its final act as it permanently sunsets, the BHT Foundation has gifted more than $522,000 to 19 community organizations in an emotional, often tearful final grant reception held virtually over Zoom on Wednesday, Feb.
9, at 8 p.m.More than half of the disbursement has been earmarked for two organizations: The DC Center for the LGBTQ Community and AIDS Action Baltimore.
Both were awarded grants of $150,000.“As a board, we went through the list of organizations that have received grants from us in the past, and we looked at organizations that we thought could better ‘pay it forward’ for the next five, six, seven, eight years,” Rik Newton-Treadway, the BHT Foundation’s president, told Metro Weekly. “There just seemed to be consensus among all of us that they would benefit the most [from grants] for all they do.“Both organizations are still very grassroots, and are in touch with the needs of the community.
We believe these programs can continue doing the work they do to make our communities a better place to be, a healthier place to be, a safer place to be.”First formed in 1978 by four local motorcycle clubs under the name “Brother, Help Thyself,” the BHT Foundation was able to assist LGBTQ-centric nonprofits with crucial funding over the years, particularly during the height of the HIV/AIDS epidemic in the 1980s, when need was great and financial resources — particularly from the government — were scarce.
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