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Ann Kraft doesn’t think of her support of the Flint Women and Girls Fund (FWGF), or of her involvement with a variety of community organizations, as anything special. It is simply “what you do.”
She and her husband Dick have called Flint home during their 56 years together. He founded Kraft Engineering & Surveying more than 50 years ago. Ann, through her work and her volunteer involvement, has helped build the social fabric of the community.
In 1986, she joined the Urban Coalition of Greater Flint staff which brought people from various segments of the community together to work on issues of race and violence. For Ann, the job was great exposure to the diversity of Flint. She finished her career in the mid-1990s at another agency, the Flint Neighborhood Improvement and Preservation Project (FNIPP), which supports urban rehabilitation. As a loan officer at FNIPP she learned much about the community and the needs of the people in the area. It was through friends, though, that Ann became involved with FWGF in the early 1990s. The Foundation’s then-president, Dorothy Reynolds, and Jane Richardson, a volunteer, were part of a Monday-morning breakfast group and they recruited Ann to serve on the committee which developed the Flint Women and Girls Fund. She and others helped build the endowment by educating the community about its importance. By 1996, it had grown to the point that they were able to begin making grants. “When you work on a project you get involved and committed and that’s what happened to me,” says Ann. “I believe that when you decide to work for an organization you give it your all including your financial support.” Ann also served as chair of the FWGF Advisory Committee. Ann also supports a variety of other organizations including arts institutions in Flint, the League of Women Voters, Quota International of Flint, Court Street United Methodist Church, and Bay View Association and Crooked Tree Arts Center, both in Petoskey. But one of the things she appreciates about FWGF is that it provides more than just financial assistance. “The Fund is about empowering people and giving them a hand up, helping women and girls to make better lives for themselves,” she says. | 
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