A Million Brighter Tomorrows
The Community Foundation recently held its Annual Celebration, where we review accomplishments of the last year and look forward to what’s coming up. Our program focused on our Brighter Tomorrows campaign, which aimed to raise endowment funds for youth in Hancock County.
The idea for this project came about in 2017 when we facilitated the first round of Community Conversations and heard from more than 1,000 people. Concerns for youth were prevalent then and grew louder during the 2022 Community Conversations. The needs of youth were brought up at almost every single gathering we held.
We knew that together we could do something to help young people.
We chose the name Brighter Tomorrows because every child in our community deserves the hope of a brighter tomorrow. Our goal was to raise $300,000 in youth funds, including the Brighter Tomorrows field of interest fund. We know bright looks different for every child. For some a brighter tomorrow might be a safe place to live, more education opportunities, or necessary medical care. A brighter tomorrow could be scholarships, more recreation options, or special field trips. The possibilities are endless.
At the celebration we announced the generous people in our community stepped up and exceeded our goal: more than $1 million has been raised for youth in our community over the last year. With the power of endowment these gifts will grow, while simultaneously awarding grants to improve the quality of life for youth.
Those one million dollars represent so many possibilities for youth in Hancock County. Here are a few real life examples: new shoes for kids through Christian Clearing House’s Project Happy Feet Fund; eight new scholarship funds will help students work toward their post-high school goals; the Holmes Family Adoption Fund will help local families go through the adoption process; the Arlington School Foundation Supporting Careers in the Trades and Keller Millstream Tools for the Trades Funds will help students get equipment they need to enter the workforce; the Cooper Tire STEM fund will provide resources for teachers to put STEM principles into practice; the Glaser Youth for Christ and Livingston FFA funds will help ensure there are resources to support places young people thrive; and Van Buren Schools Foundation started a fund which will grow and support Van Buren students forever. Visit our website to see all the youth funds and consider a gift to one that resonates with you at community-foundation.com/youth.
This is about more than a dollar amount or the Foundation – it’s about the impact. About how each of these million dollars has the potential to change a young person’s trajectory forever. Lives will be changed because of your generosity and commitment to improve the quality of life for all youth now, and in the future. The future is certainly bright and we hope young people see this commitment to bettering their futures as the way the Foundation, and donors and partner organizations, demonstrate that we’re rooting for them!
Thank you doesn’t seem like enough, but we are so grateful. Together we’ve created a million more opportunities, a million more possibilities, and a million brighter tomorrows.
This editorial was originally printed in The Courier Wednesday, June 28, 2023.
