Community Foundation of the Ozarks

As the Community Foundation’s fiscal year closed on June 30, a record number of 231 new funds were established throughout the year.

We’d like to welcome this latest group of new funds established since mid-June. Watch the website during the coming year for future acknowledgements of our growth in planned-giving and capacity-building funds.

Beshore Family Foundation – Lance and Sharon Beshore of Carthage established this family and community fund with the Community Foundation of Southwest Missouri to assist them with their charitable giving.

John & Betty Brecht Endowment Fund for United Methodist Church in Clinton – Betty Brecht established this designated endowment fund to benefit the United Methodist Church in honor and memory of her late husband, John. Mrs. Brecht also established the John & Betty Brecht Endowment Fund for Clinton Arts Council in honor and memory of John. These are component funds of the Truman Lake Community Foundation.

Community Support Services of Missouri Fund and Community Support Services of Missouri Endowment Fund – These funds were established by Community Support Services in Joplin to help fund the organization’s work with children and adults with developmental disabilities. These also were established with the Community Foundation of Southwest Missouri. We also want to welcome Community Support Services as a new agency partner in the social services category.

Billy Coyle Leadership Fund – Bill Coyle established this designated endowment fund to provide a student leadership award to the Conway School District. The student must demonstrate traits and qualities of a leader or have been involved in laboratory opportunities for leadership. Preference will be given to students pursuing higher education as a science teacher, then in the science field and then in law enforcement.

Dallas County Pet Outreach Program Fund – This capacity-building fund will provide for the needs of animals in the Dallas County area, such as spay/neuter services, animal medical bills, and improved living conditions. A component of the Dallas County Community Foundation, the program also will join the CFO as a new agency partner in the environment/animals category.

The Gary Funk Running Jenny Fund for Rural Schools – This Field-of-Interest Fund was established to honor and commemorate outgoing CFO President Gary Funk’s service to the Foundation. Grants from the fund will be used to assist rural schools and education.

Meramec Regional Community Foundation Community Grantmaking Fund – This unrestricted endowment fund will support long-term grantmaking for the Meramec Regional Community Foundation. The Meramec Regional Community Foundation also established a Capacity-Building Fund to provide dollars for grantmaking in the area.

Tri County Pregnancy Resource Center Fund – The newly established Tri County Pregnancy Resource Center established this capacity fund to help support its mission. This component of the Aurora Area Community Foundation also joins the CFO as an agency partner.

West Plains Agriculture-Science Building Fund – The West Plains R-7 Educational Foundation established this capacity-building fund as a component of the Community Foundation of West Plains to support an agriculture-science building project.

EMH at West Plains High School Fund – Haley Bray and Kathy Miller, along with the West Plains R-7 Educational Foundation established this capacity-building fund to support the Educating the Mentally Handicapped program at the high school. This is also a component of the Community Foundation of West Plains.

The Community Foundation has chosen recipients for the 10 Field-of-Interest Grant opportunities for the 2009-2010 year.  Individuals or groups of donors establish Field-of-Interest Grants to support specific program opportunities in our community through competitive grant programs.

These programs help with a wide range of needs for people ranging from schoolkids to grandparents.

We’ll profile these grants in two segments this week.

• The $3,300 made available through the Caplan/Kramer Holocaust Museum Award will allow three Springfield R-12 Social Studies teachers to attend workshops this summer at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D. C., for the opportunity to work with curators of the Museum and other teachers from around the country.  The Caplan and Kramer families created the grant to expose teachers to the Museum’s instructional offerings so they can share authentic knowledge of one of the most tragic periods in history.
• The John, Beth and Jack Raidel Fund will provide $1,300 in funding for early intervention for Springfield Public School students who experience repeated absences and poor achievement due to chronic head lice infestations.  The funds from this program provide the appropriate equipment and personal hygiene materials needed to treat these infestations and get the children back to school as quickly as possible, without exposing the remainder of their classmates.  The Raidels were inspired to create this fund after reading an article about the problem for Springfield children.
• The $1,198.00 award made through the David B. Woodruff Fund will extend summer school opportunities for youth held in the Greene County Juvenile Detention Center, beyond what is provided through Springfield Public Schools.  This allows for continued instruction for students who are traditionally behind their classmates and the chance to re-enter in the fall better prepared.
• The Lennie Cloud Fund for the Hearing Impaired Fund will provide a $450 scholarship for a hearing-challenged student to attend the Term 8, Sensational Week at Camp Barnabas, which provides services for campers who have hearing or vision difficulties.  The traditional camp experiences will be made available to the scholarship recipient, with the necessary equipment, specially trained staff and services, made available though the Cloud Fund.
• The Eslick Fund will award $948 to Sunshine Baptist Church in Springfield.  William E. Eslick established the fund to provide Southern Baptist Churches in southwest Missouri with capital improvement funding.   Sunshine Baptist plans to replace the Fellowship Hall piano and broaden its music-outreach program.

Watch the website for the second group of 2009-10 Field-of-Interest Grants.

CFO would like to welcome and thank four new members to our Legacy Society for fiscal year 2010. Mr. and Mrs. Don Martin, Sr. (Springfield), Dr. Gloria Galanes (Springfield), Michelle Ducre (Carl Junction), and Steve Schneider, Jr. (Springfield) have made planned giving commitments to support the Community Foundation of the Ozarks or one of its affiliates.

Legacy Society membership is a tangible step toward building charitable assets for the future and sustaining the organizations that serve our communities and neighbors.

CFO’s board of directors understands the importance of planned giving. Because of this, garnering 25 new Legacy Society members in this fiscal year is an annual goal.

For more information on how to give back to your community, please visit this link.  To view a complete list of Legacy Society members, please click here.