Mecosta County Community Foundation Board Member, Tim Zehr, was selected as the 2010 “Citizen of the Year” by the Pioneer! Congratulations Tim…we are all so happy for you!
For our October 2010 Grant Cycle, we received applications requesting over $65,000…nearly three times the amount available. Thank you to all that applied! Pictured are a few of the grant recipients.
The Riverview Elementary PTO was awarded $5,254 for playground equipement.
The Sheriff's Posse received $3,500 to help purchase Narrow Band Radios for Mecosta County.
The Rose Lake Youth Camp will use their $1,250 grant to purchase a GaGa Pit!
The Riley MacKenzie Fund received a grant for $830 to be used for educational items for kids!
For our October 2010 Grant Cycle, we received applications requesting over $65,000…nearly three times the amount available. Thank you to all that applied! Pictured are a few of the grant recipients.
Care Net of Big Rapids was awarded a $1,000 grant for "Earn While You Learn" program.
The American Red Cross was awarded $2,705 grant for "Health and Safety Education and Community Development."
Northland United Soccer Club received $2,000 towrds the River Street Field project.
2-1-1 Information and Referral and volunteer program initative received a $2,000 grant!
It is hard to believe that 2010 has come and is nearly gone! The holidays are directly in front of us and soon we will be ringing in the New Year……2011!
This holiday season you can play a part in improving our Mecosta County community by making a year end gift to the Mecosta County Community Foundation (MCCF). Good work has been done through MCCF this year. Your generous gift will enable MCCF to do even more good work in 2011 and beyond.
Here is a list of the different funds we support. Gifts to the “General Fund” allow us to target specific needs within the community.
As each of us reflects on the past year it is our hope that you were blessed with health and happiness. We are fortunate to be living in a community that knows no end to personal giving.
Please consider taking action now by using our electronic donor button. It is the quickest and easiest way to do something very special for your neighbors and community. Your year end donation also provides you with a tax deduction for the 2010 calendar year.
Thank you and Happy Holidays!
Online Giving: Process your online donation through Fremont Area Community Foundation. Please specifiy that your contribution goes to the Mecosta County Community Foundation.For a copy of the Fall 2010 Newsletter, click the link!
St. Peter's Lutheran School $1000 Match Day Winner
St. Peter’s Lutheran School in Big Rapids earned the $1,000 bonus for being the organization that brought in the most individual donations during Match Day. School supporters brought in 184 different gifts totaling almost $13,000. Pictured from left, front row, are students Haley McKenna, Grace Fath, Curtis Briggs and Luke VanderHill. Back row: school principal Dave Truog, St. Peter’s match day fundraising captain Brad Fath, Foundation Match Day Chair Tim Zehr and Foundation Board Member John Norton.
By Jonathan Eppley Pioneer Staff Writer
BIG RAPIDS — Former state Sen. Joanne Emmons arrived at the Big Rapids Holiday Inn and Conference Center just after 5 a.m. on Thursday with a goal of earning thousands of dollars for the Care Net Pregnancy Resource Center.
She and her husband, John, relieved a fellow volunteer holding the organization’s place at the front of the line for the Mecosta County Community Foundation’s first-ever Match Day. Volunteers from Care Net and nine other nonprofits waited in line overnight to ensure their organizations would receive a share of match money from the community foundation.
More than 1,000 individual gifts were donated during the event, which injected a total of $252,982 into the community.
DONATION: Bob Daniels (right) talks with Mecosta County Community Foundation board member Scott Hill-Kennedy as he donates $200 to the Big Rapids First United Methodist Church during the foundation's match day. (Pioneer photos/Jonathan Eppley)
When the doors opened at 7 a.m., the Emmons’ presented more than $10,000 collected for Care Net, which claimed the first spot in line more than 17 hours prior to the start of the event. “It’s terribly important to us,” Emmons said. “The response we had from people that we asked (for donations) was phenomenal. This is an opportunity we never thought we’d have.”
The foundation matched donations up to 50 cents on the dollar for donations from individuals up to $1,000 and donations from businesses and organizations up to $2,500. Organizers are waiting for donation checks to clear before releasing how much match funding will be awarded to each nonprofit.
The foundation board was so pleased with how the event went throughout the day, that it decided to kick-in an additional $15,000 into the match pool. The additional funds came from contributions collected earlier in the year to be used for the match pool, said foundation President Gary Trimarco. The extra money was going to be saved for a second match day sometime in the future. The foundation initially designated $50,000 for the match pool.
“We had such an overwhelming response from the public,” Trimarco said. “We wanted to make sure everybody received match dollars. This way, everybody who donated will receive some kind of match money.”
Board members were greeted with a rush of donors to start the event. Representatives from 44 area organizations cycled through the line in the first half hour.
Match Day Chair Tim Zehr, who is also store manager of Meijer in Big Rapids, said many of the people who arrived early to the event, were there presenting multiple donations on behalf their organization. He thought it was “clever” of the organizations to have one person present multiple donations, so others wouldn’t have to wait in line.
“What we would have liked to have seen strung out over the whole day, came at us early,” he said. “We’re not disappointed by the lack of people in line (after the first half hour of the event). It enabled other people to go to their jobs.”
FIRST IN LINE: Nick and Amber Edward wait in line Wednesday night in advance of the Mecosta County Community Foundation's match day. The pair represented the Care Net Pregnancy Resource Center.
A steady stream of donors did participate in the event throughout the remainder of the day, Zehr added.
He was pleased with the buzz the event created within the community and surprised to see so many people camp out overnight.
“This was not much different from a ‘Black Friday’ in a retail store,” Zehr said. “This has been hugely successful.”
Representatives from 10 nonprofits waited in the hotel’s lobby overnight to make sure they would get their share of match funds.
Brad Fath, of Rodney, held a place in line so St. Peter’s Lutheran School could receive its share of match funding. To pass the time, he watched movies on his laptop and conversed with others waiting in line.
He presented about $11,000 to the foundation on behalf of the school. St. Peter’s plans to use some of the money for a new playground at the school.
“I told everybody we were going to get the match, so I made sure we were here early,” he said.
This is a letter of thanks to those who helped the Mecosta County Community Foundation infuse over $252,000 into the tills of the many deserving non-profits and existing funds within the foundation, all on one day – Match Day 2010!
The problem is, I’m not sure where to start the thank yous. Do I start with the Board of Directors of the Mecosta County Community Foundation? This is the group who nearly a year ago sat around a table and challenged each other to raise $50,000.00 for the benefit of the non-profit organizations within Mecosta County. Do I put Director Tim Zehr at the front of the thank you bus? He is the guy who researched Match Day events held in other areas, then pushed it along keeping everyone motivated and directed. Maybe Tim’s right hand man, Director John Norton, or right hand woman, Administrative Executive Robyn Stratton? Things surely could not have been accomplished without their direct intervention.
Now maybe you see the problem I am facing. There were a lot of people who made this day such a huge success. Obviously, the major donors to the match pool need to have a great big pat on the back. If they had not built the pool, there wouldn’t have been any match dollars…no match dollars, no Match Day. And how about the folks who donated on Match Day, checks for as little as $10.00 and checks as large as $10,000.00. Then you have the people who work for or volunteer for the non-profits themselves. They got the word out to all of those folks who support their cause and got them to donate on the day of the event. Let’s not forget the Pioneer and local radio stations Y-102 and WBRN. They helped us promote the heck out of this event. I guess my real problem is I don’t know where to stop.
I know there are people I am missing, and for that I apologize. I guess the only way to cover everyone who helped make this the single largest day of giving in Mecosta County history, is to say it this way: Thank You Mecosta County, you make me proud to be a citizen of this great community!!
Sincerely, Gary Trimarco President, Mecosta County Community Foundation
Patt Cooper from Rose Lake Youth Camp thanks the Mecosta County Community Foundation for their donation.