11 Mar Starke County Community Foundation Newsletter
2021 was quite an eventful year for the Starke County Community Foundation! Check out some of the highlights below:
The Starke County Community Foundation was founded and became an affiliate of the Northern Indiana Community Foundation (NICF) in 1996. For two and half decades, members of the organization’s staff, boards, and committee’s have worked to accomplish NICF’s overall mission to improve the quality of life in our communities by assisting donors in fulfilling their charitable wishes, forever.
In order to recognize this milestone year, the SCCF awarded a surprise pop-up grant to a different organization for every month of the year. The SCCF Ambassadors Club, a group of former board members and the current SCCF Board President, selected twelve different recipients whose efforts make a major impact locally.
In addition to awarding the surprise grants every month of the year, the 25th Anniversary was celebrated with a community appreciation event called ‘Cups of Kindness’. SCCF partnered with the coffee shops Grand Central Perk in North Judson and The Rabbit in Knox to cover the cost of beverages on International Coffee Day and to hand out free NICF sanitizers and travel mugs with SCCF’s 25th anniversary logo.
The Hive women’s giving circle is a community resource where local women from all walks of life pool their funds together to provide grants to various charitable organizations making a difference in Starke County.
Members pay an annual dues that helps fund grants each year. Organizations apply for the funding and members select the winners. This year, groups submitted video applications for the first time in Starke County. Due to COVID-19 restrictions, the 2021 event was held virtually, and the winners’ submissions were incorporated into the event video that was shared on The Hive Facebook Page.
All three organizations that were selected as recipients this year are geared toward helping our community’s youngsters in a variety of different ways. The Hive’s 2021 grant recipients were the Just in Case Foundation, Starke County CASA and Dunebrook.
If you have any questions about The Hive or would like to arrange a presentation so we can provide more details to your church, friend group, family, or organization please feel free to reach out! You can contact the Starke County Community Foundation by calling 574-772-3665 or by emailing starke@nicf.org.
Giving Tuesday is a global event that encourages altruism at the local level. It gives community members the opportunity to take part in philanthropic efforts that help support charitable organizations, programs, and projects. It’s always held on the first Tuesday after Thanksgiving.
SCCF’s Giving Tuesday event was held as a hybrid in-person/drive-thru event at the North Judson United Methodist Church and WKVI came out to cover it with a live remote.
The community’s collective generosity throughout the day was absolutely awe-inspiring!
This year, Starke County community members collectively donated $117,970.35. When you add in the $15,000 in matching funds that came from the Hardesty Memorial Endowment Fund and the Starke County Community Fund, that comes to a grand total of $132,970.35 that was raised for SCCF’s 2021 Giving Tuesday event, resulting in a record-breaking year for the Foundation.
Major thanks goes out to everyone who made the special day a success, including donors, volunteers, and local businesses that provided cookies, coffee, doughnuts, and lunch! Those businesses included Cookies by Arielle, Grand Central Perk, Fingerhut Bakery and Papa Farm Pizza.
The Starke County Community Foundation would not exist if it wasn’t for the generous folks who have established funds and provided charitable contributions over the years. These 25th anniversary celebrations were a way to say Thank You to the community for years of support.
Thank you so much for checking out some of SCCF’s highlights from 2021! To find more stories from this year and to stay up to date with the latest from the SCCF and other NICF affiliates, be sure to follow the Northern Indiana Community Foundation Facebook Page!