Community Foundation of the Ozarks

We want to officially welcome (back)  the Carthage Community Foundation, which has been reborn 13 years after it became one of our first regional affiliates.

The original Carthage Community Foundation, founded in 1999, expanded in 2006, incorporating as the Community Foundation of Southwest Missouri, Inc., to serve a four-county area of Jasper, Newton, Barton and McDonald counties.

With the development of philanthropic resources in the CFSWMO region in the succeeding years, particularly in the Joplin area, CFSWMO is changing its name back to Carthage Community Foundation and a new affiliate has been established to serve the Joplin area. The new affiliate will retain the CFSWMO name for the present.

Don LaFerla will serve as president of the CCF’s Board of Directors. Other board members include: Kevin Checkett, Frank Dunaway, Bill Putnam, and Stan Schmidt, who are four of the original founders;  former CFSWMO board members LaFerla, Bill Lee, Carolyn Phelps, Lee Pound, and Miriam Putnam; and new recruits Chuck Bryant, Patrick Scott, and Jim Woestman.

“The initial expansion of Carthage to encompass a broader section of our region has fulfilled its purpose,” said Putnam, who previously served six years on the board and four years as volunteer Executive Director of CFSWMO.  “Joplin is now well on its way to developing its own philanthropic assets and we think each area will be better served with a more direct focus on its own needs and goals.”

The Community Foundation of Southwest Missouri will continue to serve Joplin, and the smaller communities in the immediate area. Stephanie Howard is the new Chair of the CFSWMO.

Michelle Ducre, the CFO’s staff associate based in Joplin, will transition from serving as Executive Director for CFSWMO to Regional Development Director serving all of the affiliates in the southwest region of the CFO’s service area – CFSWMO, Sarcoxie, Neosho and Carthage.

About 30 residents of southern Missouri’s Ripley County kicked off their “Strengthening Our Communities” project this week with a frank discussion about how to balance growing the local economic base with maintaining the character that draws people to the heart of the Current River.

The civic leaders and interested citizens hold dear the heritage of the river, protected as a national treasure for its wide, clean waters that draw paddlers and create a tourism base. They know some residents in Doniphan and the surrounding area would just as soon leave things as is. But they also want to stem the population losses in recent Census reports, and the loss of talented young people, by creating more jobs and opportunities.

That’s why a group of Ripley County leaders applied for the CFO’s new “Strengthening Our Communities” initiative in which two communities were selected for a 12- to 18-month strategic planning process that will yield a blueprint to move the community forward. The CFO is partnering with University Extension and the USDA Rural Development, which will guide Ripley County and a Joplin-area coalition through this planning process.

As they talked about their reasons for wanting to participate, the residents said they want to create a better environment for their kids and grandkids so they’ll consider staying around after high school, as well as improve the standard of living for those living in poverty and the high seasonal unemployment related to River tourism.

“We’ve got room for improvement,” said Russ French, an insurance agent who is helping coordinate the meetings. “We need to figure out how to maximize ourselves without stepping on toes.”

Mary Ann Curry, who is being honored as Doniphan’s Citizen of the Year this week, moved to the area from Los Angeles in 1974. She and her husband raised Charolais cattle, later moved to Arizona,  and then returned to Doniphan in 1997 where they opened up an eight-lane bowling alley.

She said she personally went around to recruit participants for this week’s initial meeting for the project. She wants to see more join the effort because she thinks Doniphan has a lot going for it if it will make this effort.

The next meeting is scheduled for 1 p.m, Tuesday, Feb. 14, at the Chamber of Commerce office.

Joplin residents celebrated another milestone on their journey toward recovery with a grand re-opening of the Home Depot store, one of the sites hardest hit on May 22 when the tornado claimed the lives of an employee and several customers and destroyed the store.

Just as the Atlanta-based retailer had resolved to rebuild its own store, it also reinforced its commitment to rebuilding Joplin with The Home Depot Foundation awarding a $500,000 grant to the Joplin Recovery Fund. That funding will be included in a new housing grant cycle to be announced Jan. 12  by the Community Foundation of Southwest Missouri, Inc., the CFO’s largest affiliate.

“On May 22, we had a disaster that struck this community and we are part of this community,” said Ann Marie Campbell, president of Home Depot’s Southern Division. “As leaders and managers, there is no script to deal with that size of disaster. It continues to be one of the toughest things we’ve had to deal with as a company.

“That’s why we’re here today because of the spirit of this community that says there is hope; there is resiliency,” she said.

CFSWMO board members and CFO staff associate Michelle Ducre accepted the ceremonial check for $500,000 before store manager Steve Cope led the “ribboncutting” – actually powersawing a long board functioning as a ribbon.

“Wow, a half million to our community along with the commitment to come back,” Ducre said, in thanking Home Depot.

With flourishes including cheerleaders, a drum corps, a Color Guard, Home Depot leaders treated customers a a drop of hundreds of balloons filled with slips of paper to redeem for gifts, cupcakes, and grand re-opening sales throughout the store.

But the tragedy won’t stay far from the minds of employees and customers; at the store’s front entrance is a fountain and a stone marker “in remembrance of the lives lost, and to a future of rebuilding in their memory.”