Welcome to the Miami County Community Foundation
Miami County is a wonderful community with a rich heritage, steeped in history. Since 1993, Miami County Community Foundation has brought caring people and charitable endeavors together for the good of this great community. The Community Foundation gives donors flexible and tax-effective ways to ensure their charitable giving. We work to build substantial endowment funds for our community through contributions large and small.

Miami County Community Foundation is proud to be a part of the Northern Indiana Community Foundation (NICF). The NICF allows us to maximize our investment benefits and be more cost efficient. This way Miami County donations can do more—right here in Miami County.

So far, Miami County Community Foundation has dispersed nearly 3 million dollars in grants and scholarships. Currently the Community Foundation holds over $4 million in assets and administers 69 funds.

Boomerang Sisterhood awards grants

By Sarah Stonestreet, sstonestreet@perutribune.com

The Boomerang Sisterhood awarded $3,500 in grants to four local non-profit organizations at the group’s annual grant awards social.

Members of the group gathered at the Firehouse Ministries building Tuesday evening to choose from the four finalists as well as enjoy a light supper and fashion show given by A Lady’s Place Boutique in Kokomo. Mary Alexander, Jackie Frank, Carol Gough, Lori Purcifull, Kelsey Quin, Chloe Radel and Julie Resesett acted as models for the show, walking among the crowd to show of their outfits.

“We have very fashion-forward things,” owner Darlene Rice said. “I love to help women dress.”

Members from Harvesting Capabilities, Inc, Project SOAR, Birthright of Peru and the Beta Sigma Phi and the Zi Alpha Lambda Peru Dental Program made presentations to the gathered Sisterhood members, detailing their projects and what the grant money would go toward. Each group would receive a grant, and the group with the most votes received $1,500, second-most votes $1,000 and the third and fourth received $500 each.

This is the seventh year for the Sisterhood, affiliated with the Miami County Community Foundation and the Northern Indiana Community Foundation, to give out grants. They have in the past benefited such groups as Miami County Helping Hands, BOOKS (Books Offer Our Kids Success) and Back-Roads Dog Rescue.

Mary Wood, director at Birthright, along with Rita Cook and Heidi McKinney, detailed the cloth diaper kits the organization wants to offer the women who come to them for aid. These kits would include 3-ply cloth diapers, waterproof plastic pants, diaper pins, a diaper pail and laundry detergent. According to statistics from Wood, children go through 5,000 to 6,000 diaper changes in two and half years, which would cost on average about $1,400, an estimate that Wood said “is not really the high end.” With the cost of each kit at about $88, that’s a potential savings of about $765.

“We know it will be a tough sell because the other diapers are so convenient,” Cook said.

Wood said they would interview each woman who applied for the kit and they would also teach them how to launder and take care of the diapers. More information can be found by calling Birthright of Peru at 765-475-0706. ‎

Pat Adams, Aliceann Allman and Mary Brooks from the Peru Dental Program spoke about their services. The program offers free dental services from Miami County dentists to adults and children in Miami County from low-income families. They have to show they have financial need and cannot have insurance or Medicaid.

“We think it’s a very worthwhile program,” she said. She also said the Salvation Army screens the adult applicants, who qualify for emergency procedures only, including pain, fever and swelling. Children from ages 3 through twelfth grade are referred to the program through their school nurse. According to the pamphlet offered at the event, those who want to take advantage of the free dental work must make their own appointment and provide their own transportation. The program excludes dentures, root canals, tooth replacement, orthodontics and prescription medications. The monetary limits are $250 per adult and $300 per child. For more information, call Adams at 765-689-5184 or Allman at 765-472-2594 Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. – 5 p.m.

Mike Hines from Harvesting Capabilities spoke about the ramps the group has been building for those who have difficulties getting out of their homes. The McGrawville United Methodist Church donated labor and materials to build two ramps, Hines said, but “we’ve been getting a lot of requests for ramps.” According to the information pamphlet, they have four more requests and a wish list that includes an auxiliary group of people with ideas to help with fundraisers, cash donations, volunteers and a secure storage area.

“There’s a lot of need,” Hines said. “We’re here to be advocates for the disabled.” He added that though they are now asking for donations and monetary aid, their plan “down the road” is to be self-sufficient.

For more information, visit the website at www.harvestingcapabilites.com or call 765-472-1902.

Jan Douglas from Project SOAR detailed their goals as well as their efforts to provide two books to each of the students involved with the seven-year-old project. These students usually need to improve their test scores, attendance, behavior or connection with the school their peers or adults. They help the students through mentoring, homework assistance, activities, special speakers, field trips and books.

Douglas said the students meet twice per week after school and after working on homework, they listen to volunteer speakers. The subjects of these speeches have ranged, she said, from scuba diving demonstrations to prescription drug abuse. In 2009, they implemented the book component of the program as Douglas said they found usually over Christmas and summer breaks students often “lost” some of what they learned during the school year.

“One of the most important things you can do for these kids is to keep them reading,” she said. The program gives the students, about 120, a book before the breaks for them to read on vacation. The teachers and libraries provided a list of the available books to the children and Douglas said they asked the students to list their top four favorites and gave them their first choice. Douglas said they purchase the books through the school, which in turn purchases it through Scholastic to get it at a cheaper rate, about $1,000 for 240 books.

After the presentations, the members present voted, giving Harvesting Capabilities $1,500, the SOAR Project $1,000 and Birthright and the Peru Dental Program $500

“The Boomerang Sisterhood is a giving circle,” Alexander said. “It’s a way to bring us all together in a fun atmosphere and to give back to the community. It’s really a wonderful organization.”

Brideges Out of Poverty Workshop a Huge Success

Bridges out of Poverty Workshop presented by: Jodi Pfarr

The Bridges Out of Poverty workshop, sponsored by the Northern Indiana Community Foundation, was a wonderful success.

There was a large variety of people who came to participate. Included in this group were local community organizations, law enforcement, counselors, health care providers, social service providers, churches, and even some local high school students.

On Tuesday, April 19th, the Akron Community Center held over 170 people captivated by the guest speaker, Jodi Pfarr.

Jodi included topics to increase awareness of the differences in economic cultures and how those differences affect opportunities for success.

The workshop was based on the book Bridges Out of Poverty: Strategies for Professionals and Communities, a collaboration between Ruby K. Payne, Phillip DeVol, and Terie Dreussi Smith.