THE West Vancouver Community Foundation announced more than $42,000 in grants to 10 local organizations promoting literacy, mental health and the preservation of history earlier in May.

The foundation grants became more important after the economy faltered in 2008 and gaming revenue dried up for nonprofits, according to WVCF executive director Delaina Bell.

The WVCF used to give grants twice a year, but with more non-profits requesting funds and the economy uncertain, Bell said the WVCF decided to deliver grants once each spring, beginning in 2008.

"We're slowly getting back to where we were," Bell said.

Bell said the North Shore Schizophrenia Society was very much in need of the grant they received.

"They run on a very shoestring budget," she said.

"The grant fully funds our public education lecture series," said Cheryl Olney, executive director of the North Shore Schizophrenia Society.

The society conducts four lectures a year at Lions Gate Hospital examining the links between mental illness and issues like addiction and homelessness.

"We try to get the expert on each topic," Olney said, adding the lectures are a way to reach out to people.

"It also finds people who might not otherwise find us," she said.

The primarily volunteer society offers one-on-one support to help with a range of problems.

"We sometimes help people get their family member into treatment," Olney said. "Other times people just really need to get things off their chest."

Olney said anyone concerned about an issue related to mental health should contact the society.

"We encourage people to get in touch with us if they're not sure whether or not we can help. . . if we're not the right people, we know who are."

The West Vancouver Historical Society is planning to use its grant to help publish a historical coffee table book detailing the last century of the municipality.

"We want to make it the human side of the development of our community and the stories of the people who contributed to making each of these neighbourhoods unique," said West Vancouver Historical Society president Jim Carter.

Carter said two grants from the WVCF over the past two years totalling approximately $10,000 were a big help in publishing the book.

It took about four years to put the book together, which involved finding an author and getting financing, said Carter.

Cottages to Community: The Story of West Vancouver's Neighbourhoods, will focus on the perseverance of the personalities who shaped West Vancouver, like engineer and entrepreneur Alfred James Towle Taylor, for whom Taylor Way is named.

The book chronicles Taylor's poor beginnings on Vancouver Island, the death of his mother, and his time living in a Vancouver shack at age 16 to his apprentice as a marine mechanic, according to Carter.

Each chapter focuses on a different neighbourhood, combining to document West Vancouver's evolution from a collection of cottages along the waterfront to a sophisticated urban community.

The book, which is approximately two-thirds pictures, is scheduled to be released Sept. 15 at the West Vancouver Memorial Library.

Carter, who has worked as a principal at both Sentinel secondary and West Vancouver secondary, said proceeds from the book will benefit the historical society's archives, museum and library.

The WVCF also issued a grant to the Land Conservancy of B.C. to help maintain the Binning House.

"This is the first time we've actually given a grant to them," Bell said.

Built in 1941 by Bertram Charles Binning, the West Vancouver bungalow is considered an almost unclassifiable architectural landmark of modern ideas.

"This house is the third historical site in West Vancouver," Bell said, mentioning Lions Gate Bridge and Point Atkinson Lighthouse as the others.

"Hopefully it will be a place where other young architects come to and learn and see (Bertram's) vision," Bell said.