Grants were the highlight of Community Foundation of Southeast Kansas (CFSEK) activities for 2002.
Because CFSEK exceeded the Kansas Health Foundation’s (KHF) challenge to raise $300,000, KHF gave CFSEK $10,000 to give away in grants that would enhance the health and welfare of children in Southeast Kansas.
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Children’s Advocacy Center grant
From the Kansas Health Foundation’s $10,000, CFSEK awarded a $6,400 grant to the Children’s Advocacy Center, Inc. (CAC). Sandy Morris, CAC executive director, and Ron Marrone, CAC board president, wrote:
When an abused child and their family come to the CAC, they receive an average of five hours of services or support. The total expenses at $50 per hour, could be more than $250.
On the other hand, safety awareness or prevention services can be provided to a group of children at only $25 per hour. It is clear that it costs more to provide services to an abused child than it does to prevent child abuse.
Thankfully, the CAC has been able to provide both the prevention and the intervention services to children since 1999. CFSEK’s donation of funds helped expand the child abuse prevention education program provided to second and fourth graders in Crawford County.
Community support for the Children’s Advocacy Center, Inc. is critical for the continuation of our services to children. Your contribution will make a difference in the life of a child.
Thank you for your generosity.
Kids Who Care grant
All 5th grade classes in Crawford County were invited to apply for a $200 grant through the CFSEK 5th Grade Kids Who Care Contest. The 5th grade classes were asked to write a short proposal telling how their classes would use the $200 to make their community a better place in which to live.
Four of the 18 classes that applied for the $200 completed their projects by the end of December 2002.
Peggy Polsak’s 5th grade class in Westside Elementary School in Pittsburg chose to hold a food drive during November for Wesley House, a nonprofit organization that is consistently helping families in need of food. They reported they worked very hard to accomplish and surpass their goal of 250 nonperishable food items for Wesley House. On November 21, 2002, they delivered 565 nonperishable items to Wesley House.
Piet Knetsch, Wesley House pastor and executive director, said:
The Kids Who Care Contest is terrific. We appreciate the donated food from the Westside Elementary School’s 5th grade class. Because of this experience, one of the kids from the Westside class has become a Wesley House volunteer! He is only 10 years old.
The 5th grade classes of Denise McLeod and Theresa Tener at St. Mary’s Elementary School in Pittsburg collaborated on their project. They joined forces to provide the Humane Society with materials for people who adopted animals at the shelter. They chose this project because “kids love animals, and maybe this will promote people to adopt homeless animals.” They completed their project before Christmas in time for people to adopt an animal for a Christmas gift.
Diane Deplue’s 5th grade class at Frank Layden Elementary School in Frontenac chose to help the Humane Society by donating supplies such as food, toys, kitty litter, cleaning supplies, etc., to the local shelter that takes care of animals and paying for one animal to be spayed or neutered.
Pittsburg’s downtown holiday decorations
The downtown Pittsburg Christmas decorations have been a point of pride in the community for decades. This was especially true for long-time resident and business owner Bob Lyerla, now deceased. In Bob’s memory, Patrick O’Bryan established a Lyerla memorial fund from the many donations in honor of Bob. From this fund, a grant of $5,400 was made to the City of Pittsburg for holiday decorations. Another $1,000 grant for holiday decorations was made possible by a gift from the Pittsburg Walmart store.