Community Foundation of the Ozarks

The CFO was honored to host Dr. Chris Nicastro, Commissioner of the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, for visits to Rural Schools Partnership projects in Purdy and Aurora on Wednesday, Sept. 1.

Dr. Nicastro came to the Ozarks to learn about the CFO’s rural schools initiatives as well as meet with leaders from Missouri State about alternative-education programs at its West Plains campus. Drury University hosted a dinner to discuss its educational administration curriculum with Dr. Nicastro, who was named the DESE Commissioner a year ago.

“I’m here to learn about the programs you’re working on to strengthen Missouri’s rural schools and communities,” she said.

After a brief overview in Springfield, the first stop was at Purdy High School, which received a $16,000 Coover Place-Based Education grant for its full-service, student-run industrial recycling program that serves both the school and the community.

The project is run by the school’s Spanish class and club, which is advised by teacher Gerry Wass.

“We were a new club and we had a lot of clubs already out fundraising in our community,” he said. “We needed a new idea.

“This recycling project also has the effect of showing some of the flow of money out of our community from trash,” he said.

The group then traveled to Aurora so Dr. Nicastro could see the High School’s award-winning solar-car project. Aurora received a $19,325 grant to purchase additional alternative-energy modules. The students also are studying how to build a LEED-certified, solar-energy Habitat for Humanity home in the community.

“We’ve got some really neat things going on here with some bright kids,” teacher and advisor Brad Boettler said.

The grants are made possible through the Louis L. and Julia Dorothy Coover Charitable Foundation Regional Grantmaking program, a partnership between the Community Foundation of the Ozarks and Commerce Trust Company.

The deadline for the 2011 Coover Place-Based Education grant program is April 11, 2011.

The Community Foundation of the Ozarks welcomes three new members to the Board of Directors.

Judith Gonzalez is a faculty member at the School of Professional Psychology at Forest Institute in Springfield. She also founded the “Hand in Hand” Multicultural Center in 2000 and received the CFO’s  Humanitarian of the Year award in 2004. 

Bill Lee, the Community President for Arvest Bank in Neosho and in Carthage, also has been elected Chairman of the Board of the Community Foundation of Southwest Missouri, Inc., a CFO affiliate serving Barton, Jasper, McDonald and Newton counties. An active civic volunteer, he also chairs the Carthage Chamber of Commerce’s Economic Development Corporation.

Sandra Thomason of Clinton is a longtime civic volunteer particularly serving on boards and agencies with connections to youth. She is a founding member and former president of the Truman Lake Community Foundation.

The CFO’s new 2010-11 Executive Committee is comprised of: Chair David Pointer, a Gainesville attorney; Vice-Chair Cliff Brown, attorney at Carnahan, Evans, Cantwell & Brown, Springfield; Treasurer Shari Hoffman, senior managing advisor at BKD Wealth Advisors, Springfield; Secretary Jill Reynolds, vice president/trust officer at Commerce Bancshares, Springfield; CFO President Brian Fogle; and At-Large members Gloria Galanes, professor of communication at Missouri State University; Mark Nelson, wealth management advisor at Merrill Lynch, Springfield; and Roger D. Shaw, Jr., rancher, Thomasville.

At the August meeting, CFO President Brian Fogle also reviewed the fiscal year-end achievements.

• The CFO made a record $18.2 million in grants and distributions in FY10, up from the FY09 record of $15.9 million.
• A record 231 new funds were established, bringing the total number of funds the CFO holds to more than 1,700 at the end of the fiscal year.
• Scholarships totaling more than $600,000 were distributed to a record 478 students across the Ozarks.
• Contributions of $23.4 million were the second highest ever, up from $16.5 million the previous year.

In addition to the year-end financial report, Fogle also noted the successful first-year launch of the Rural Schools Partnership, which now includes more than 90 southern Missouri school districts and a nationally recognized scholarship program to retain teachers for rural communities. The Youth Empowerment Project, which focuses on philanthropy for high-school and middle-school students, increased to 31 chapters, up from the previous year’s 17.

At a recent Ozarks Food Harvest Mobile Pantry in Joplin, 150 people received eggs, cheese, meat, bread, cereal, Gatorade, and snack foods to feed their families

CFO affiliates raised $105,000 and received $100,000 in matching funds from the Walmart State Foundation to fight chronic hunger in their communities.

A total of 19 affiliates successfully completed the Challenge Grant, which is being channeled primarily through the Ozarks Food Harvest, which has a 28-county service area that largely mirrors the CFO’s region.

The CFO affiliates that completed the Hunger Challenge are: Aurora, Bolivar, Cassville, DACO (Dade County), Dallas County, El Dorado Springs, Finley River (Ozark area), Houston, Jacks Fork, Southwest Missouri (Carthage-Joplin area), Marshfield, Nixa, Oregon County, Seymour, Stockton, Table Rock Lake, Taney County, and West Plains.

The Wal-Mart State Foundation State Giving Program selected the Ozarks Food Harvest for its challenge grant program last year, which began in response to the national report – “Hunger in America 2010” – describing the extent to which hunger plagues Ozarks communities. An estimated 155,000 Ozarkers face chronic hunger issues, according to the report.

For more information, see the full  Hunger Challenge news release .