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.

Ryan McCarthy Holmes' Legacy
"Life is good."

Ryan McCarthy Holmes was known for saying this. It fully expressed his attitude about life and living. Tragically, his life was ended all too soon. Yet his philosophy and generous spirit lives on, through a scholarship being created in his name by former classmates and family through the Miami County Community Foundation.

"Ryan had such a giving heart and he had faith in people, even when sometimes they didn't have faith in themselves," said scholarship founder and former classmate Tanya (Ferguson) Hagy.

The idea to keep his memory and zest for life alive came to Hagy while she was talking with her best friend Sara (Poole) Wood. As the friends were mourning their childhood friend, Wood suggested the idea of starting a scholarship in his name. Hagy knew instantly that this would be the perfect way to honor his memory.

"I can only pray that Ryan would be happy to be remembered in a way that encourages kids to be involved in their communities and help them further their education," Hagy remarked.

Ryan's father, Lee "Homer" Holmes agreed, "Ryan would have been very honored, and would have thought that it shouldn't have been named after him. He was the type of person who wouldn't think he was good enough to have a scholarship named after him.  But in the long run, he would have been very proud that he played some part in helping students further their education."

Education was important to Ryan, who enjoyed his career working as a teacher and coach at Bloomington North, Triton Central, Westfield High School and Center Grove High School. He was also very involved in the community. He and his wife, Stephanie, would coordinate yearly gift drives at Christmas for families with children undergoing treatment at Riley Hospital for Children. He and Stephanie were also very involved in fundraising for Breast Cancer Research.

"Ryan was always a giver," Holmes said. "And he never expected anything in return. He always wanted the other person to feel important, happy and relaxed. He wanted to do whatever it took to make people he met feel good about themselves, and walk away smiling."

Hagy agreed, "Ryan was the kind of person who made you feel good just by being around him. He had a charm about him, a way of making people comfortable, and he inspired everyone he met to never give up on their goals and dreams."

Hagy is determined to meet the goal of creating a scholarship fund to celebrate that attitude. Ryan's sister, Kelli (Holmes) Wilson and his widow Stephanie serve on the committee and help with fundraising. They have planned a golf outing to help raise funds for the scholarship.

The outing will be July 15, at Rock Hollow Golf Club. Registration begins at 10 a.m. with a shotgun start at 11:30 a.m. Entry fee is $100 per person, or $400 per foursome. The fee includes range balls, lunch, green fees, cart, gifts, contests and the awards program. There are also multiple sponsorship opportunities.

"It's a great way to have fun and support a great cause," Hagy commented.

Ryan's scholarship will recognize outstanding achievement to Peru High School graduates in the spring of 2009. If the committee raises enough funds, they would like to offer the scholarship to all the schools where Ryan taught and coached as well.

Matching Donations Still Available for the Robert M. Larrison -
First Farmers Bank Trust Scholarship

First Farmers Bank & Trust is offering a $1 to $1 match, up to $10,000, to create a scholarship in memory of retired bank CEO and board member, Robert Larrison.

Robert, a Miami County resident, was very involved in our community. He was a member of the Main Street United Methodist Church in Peru, as well as a member of the Peru Maennerchor and the YMCA. He worked as an appraiser for Spear Real Estate and was affiliated with Habitat for Humanity and the Grissom Redevelopment Authority.

His friends at First Farmers Bank & Trust want to celebrate his life with a scholarship that will benefit graduating seniors in Miami, Howard and Grant Counties. The scholarship will be offered for the first time to the class of 2009. Students applying must be accepted or attending an accredited college or junior college. The scholarship will be awarded based on financial need, scholastic achievement, athletic participation, social involvement and work experience.

Miami County Community Foundation Gives Circus Emergency Grant
June 2008

Debi Miser of the Circus City Festival, Inc. board accepts an emergency grant from Miami County Community Foundation Associate Director, Jenni Marsh.

Miami County Community Foundation recently announced that it would give $5,000 as an emergency grant to Circus City Festival, Inc. The circus was hard hit with a fire that destroyed Grant Home Furnishings, and in the process caused significant damage to the AmericanTrust Circus City Festival Arena that shared a wall with the furniture store.

"One of the benefits of having a granting entity such as the Community Foundation here locally is that we can respond to urgent and emergency situations," explained Jenni Marsh, Associate Director of the foundation. "We are proud to support the circus in their time of need."

Since inception, the Community Foundation has given over $3 million to worthwhile projects and charitable causes in Miami County. It is very unusual for the Community Foundation to grant proactively. Upon learning that the Circus might not be able to use their arena to mount this summer's production, the Community Foundation began to explore how it could support Circus City Festival, Inc.

The $5,000 emergency grant money will be used to help the circus produce its upcoming show. While the circus was insured, their insurance will not cover all expenses to get the arena and its equipment up to safe standards for the July performances. The Community Foundation's grant will be used for this purpose.

This emergency grant was funded in part by the "Donald W. Ferrara Fund" which was established in his memory through the Community Foundation by his daughter, Judy Ditzler.

"We are so grateful for the community's support during this challenging time," Miser said. "We are very appreciative of the Community Foundation and their continued efforts to support the circus and all of Miami County."