Community Foundation of the Ozarks

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 .

U.S. Rep. Jo Ann Emerson leads the ribbon cutting of the new Ozarks Medical Center emergency department in West Plains.

The dedication of a new 16-bed emergency department at the Ozarks Medical Center in West Plains also represents the first project completed under the CFO’s new Mission-Related Investment program focusing on the “double-bottom line” of investing in our own communities.

The facility, which will open for patients at 7 a.m., Tuesday, July 20, offers improvements such as individual rooms for patient privacy that surround a nurse’s station with state-of-the-art patient tracking. Each patient room also has its own cardiac-monitoring system, access to portable imaging equipment, and EKG monitoring capabilities to speed up response time for potential cardiac patients. The previous facility had one EKG system that was shared among the treatment rooms and some of its 12 treatment rooms were separated only by curtains, which gave patients less privacy.

Two of the rooms are larger for major trauma cases and another room is equipped as a haz-mat facility if decontamination is necessary. Two of the rooms also are designed as “negative pressure” spaces for infectious patients where the contaminated air is prevented from reaching other parts of the hospital.

Construction of the new emergency room began more than five years ago. The shell of the building was completed in 2005, but challenging economic conditions and access to financial markets halted construction. In 2009, the CFO made its first mission-related investment – a $1 million low-interest loan. The hospital also received a $500,000 federal grant and the Ozarks Medical Center Foundation has raised $2 million toward its $3 million capital-campaign goal.

Construction resumed last August; the Sunday, July 18, dedication took place two months ahead of the estimated completion date. OMC President and CEO David Zechman noted with pride that 87 percent of the contractors for the project were from the West Plains area.

CFO Board member Dusty Shaw, also on the OMC Foundation Board, recognized the CFO’s role during his remarks at the dedication ceremony. New CFO Board Chairman David Pointer also was recognized as the hospital’s legal counsel.

The goal of the Mission-Related Investment initiative is to invest up to 2 percent of the CFO’s assets for low-interest loans for community needs when conventional financing options are not available.

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.