The annual GivingTuesdayNWO program held by the Greater Toledo Community Foundation, in partnership with Toledo Blade and The Center for Nonprofit Resources, has rewarded Joyful Connections in Oak Harbor with a $5,000 award this year.

Two nonprofit agencies were randomly drawn from the list of those nonprofit organizations that participated in #GivingTuesdayNWO 2020. One lucky winner was chosen to receive an award of $5,000 from each of two categories: Small Organization and Large Organization. Those cash awards went to:

• Small Organization: Joyful Connections, Oak Harbor
• Large Organization: Autism Model School, Toledo

Joyful Connections is a local agency that provides supervised visitations and exchanges. It provides a child-focused, healthy, safe, and home-like environment where children can interact with family members in a non-judgmental setting.

Joyful Connections is committed to building upon its recent successes and working to continue its mission of keeping families connected in a safe environment.

Joyful Connections thanked the community for their steadfast support of the important social services agency. Year after year, this day of giving has seen remarkable efforts to involve the business community and build capacity of local nonprofits, especially small grassroots nonprofits, said officials.

Results obtained through an online survey (65 of 99 organizations self-reported) prove that local nonprofits raised $323,437.96 on Dec. 1. In addition, Greater Toledo Community Foundation provided $10,000 to fund two the unrestricted grants for local nonprofit organizations participating in GivingTuesdayNWO. The combined efforts of the Foundation and local nonprofits resulted in more than $333,000 being distributed to worthy causes in Northwest Ohio.