Community Foundation of the Ozarks

Every Friday, we share the news of new groups and individuals choosing to make philanthropic gifts and investments in their community. You can read more about types of funds available at CFO here. Click here for a full list of non-profit Agency Partners. For more information on fund types and how to get involved, contact Winter Skelton at wskelton@cfozarks.org.

Jerry and Sharon Berkstresser Fund – Becky Berkstresser Brill established this family and community fund to honor her parents and help simplify her charitable giving. This is a component fund of the Community Foundation of Southwest Missouri.

Dignity Now Endowment Fund – This is a fund which support the long terms needs of Dignity Now. It is a component fund of the Community Foundation of Taney County and is a new Agency Partner in the social services category.

O’Day Family Mausoleum Maintenance Fund – John Baldwin O’Day has established this fund which will distribute to the City of Springfield for the public beautification and historic preservation of the O’Day Family Mausoleum located in Hazelwood Cemetery. Should the available to spend be more than the City of Springfield needs for this task, the remaining available amount will granted to Ozark Greenways for the maintenance and improvement of the greenway trail network in Springfield-Greene County.

Ozark Actors Theatre Endowment Fund – This fund will support the long term sustainability of the local theatre in Rolla, Mo. It is a component fund of the Meramec Regional Community Foundation, and is a new Agency Partner in the arts category.

Skyline R-II Youth Empowerment Fund – This fund will support youth programming. This is a component fund of the Douglas County Community Foundation.

On Oct. 20, more than 175 community-minded students from across the Ozarks came together for a day of learning at the annual YEP Youth Philanthropy Conference. Representing 24 schools, the students shared ideas on how to make their schools and towns more vibrant places, listened to thoughts from local philanthropist Doug Pitt, and celebrated what it means to be Yeppers.

The Youth Empowerment Project is designed to promote volunteerism, grantmaking, fundraising and education to get mostly high-school and some middle-school students involved in community-based philanthropy. The YEP program now includes chapters at 35 schools.

You can view photos from the conference, hosted at Drury University, at the YEP website, yepozarks.org, and check out individual chapter pages and brand-new group photos here (thanks for posing in the morning cold, kids).

To learn more about YEP, and how your school might start a chapter, contact Bridget Dierks by e-mail, or call (417) 864-6199.

Go to yepozarks.org. Click “Media” to view photos.

Click here to learn more about individual YEP chapters.

UPDATE: You can keep up with the Firehouse Coffee Shop’s progress on Facebook.

What a difference a year makes.

Twelve months ago, the city of St. James was in mourning. A tragic school bus accident last August, just up the road on I-44 in St. Louis, had killed a student and injured many more, and also took a bit of the town’s innocence.

With the accident as a backdrop, school began just a few short weeks later. For the first time the staff included Terrill Story, a former youth pastor who was a last-minute addition to the overburdened counseling staff. But as the school healed, Terrill saw in his position more than a temporary job – he saw a new way, with the help of a dedicated faculty and administration, to drastically improve students’ lives.

Over the course of the 2010-11 school year, Terrill went to work, establishing the school’s active Youth Empowerment Project chapter (he is currently the sponsor) and submitting an application for a 2011 Coover grant (click here for information and an application on the 2012 Coover program). The mission: to transform a dilapidated, abandoned city firehouse into a coffee shop that would not only raise funds for the YEP chapter’s local philanthropic efforts, but also give students and the community a safe, comfortable place to eat, study and gather.

(Click and watch Terrill Story explains what he hopes the coffee shop will accomplish for the students of St. James)

The project was one of eight selected to receive 2011 Coover grants, and was awarded to the chapter in May at the RSP’s annual get-together in Thomasville, Mo. Work began late that month, just days before school ended.

“I thought nothing short of a stick of dynamite would help the place,” says St. James High School Principal Keith McCarthy. (more…)