CFO, Commerce Trust facilitate $321K in grants

Community Foundation of the Ozarks and Commerce Trust Co. this month facilitated $321,000 in grants to 21 nonprofits.

The funding comes from the Louis L. and Julia Dorothy Coover Charitable Foundation, established in 1992 by longtime Commerce Bank employee Julia Coover. Nonprofits received the funding on April 6 and April 19, according to a news release.

The organizations, by grant amount, are:
    •    Placeworks Art Initiative, $50,000 to fund a program facilitated by Springfield Art Museum that sends teaching artists into rural Missouri classrooms;
    •    About Our Kids, $19,000 to buy a ventilation hood for its main kitchen and to replace equipment and appliances;
    •    Care to Learn, $19,000 for its clothing stores in Ava, Greenfield, Marionville and Monett;
    •    DOCO Inc., $19,000 for handicap accessibility at its Ava-based Sheltered Workshop;
    •    Ozark Greenways, $19,000 to stabilize the Coates Branch stream;
    •    Polk County Health Center, $19,000 to address opioid abuse in Polk County;
    •    St. James Caring Center, $19,000 to improve food storage space at its senior center and food pantry;
    •    CASA of South Central Missouri, $16,100 to buy tablets for volunteers;
    •    Boys & Girls Club of the Ozarks, $15,495 for its summer scholarship fund for families in Stone and Taney counties;
    •    Ozark Trails Council Inc., $15,325 to create a handicap accessible space for campers;
    •    Eastern Jasper County Laubach Literacy Action/Carthage Family Literacy Council, $15,000 for an early childhood literacy program;
    •    Hudson School District, $15,000 to purchase a new playground;
    •    Whole Kids Outreach, $15,000 for a nurse providing 350 home visits for 75 families with at-risk newborns;
    •    The Community Partnership of Rolla, $13,310 for its early care and education program;
    •    Oregon County Long Term Recovery Committee, $11,355 to help residents in Thomasville and Oregon counties return to their homes after the floods in 2017;
    •    Missouri State University AHEC, $10,000 for a Bolivar pipeline education and recruitment program;
    •    Ozark Mountain Music, $10,000 to expand after-school and camping programs;
    •    Lake Area Big Brothers Big Sisters, $9,750 to support its school-based mentoring program;
    •    Ripley County Caring Community Partnership, $8,365 to help individuals prepare for the high school equivalency test;
    •    Youth Volunteer Corps, $4,300 to launch a unit in Joplin; and
    •    Sweeney Elementary School in Republic, $1,000 to expand a student garden club and share produce with food pantries.