Care to Learn Fund expands to Nixa, ups matching level

The Care to Learn Fund celebrated its one-year anniversary Thursday and made two announcements regarding the program's expansion.

The fund was founded in April 2008 by local businessman Doug Pitt and is supported by actors Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie through their Jolie-Pitt Foundation, local businessman Jim D. Morris, St. John's and an anonymous private donor. Contributions to the fund are designated for the Springfield Public Schools Foundation and pay for the health, hygiene and hunger needs of Springfield students.

In its first year, the fund raised $320,000 - more than $100,000 above the initial fundraising goal - and added several corporate partners, including Wal-Mart/Sam's Club, SRC Holdings Corp., ServiceWorld Computer Center, Ollis & Co. and Grooms Office Supply, according to a news release.

Since launching, the Care to Learn Fund has supplied 6,480 backpacks of food for students to take home on the weekend, 350 coats, 585 vouchers for health-related products, 75 coat vouchers, 40 packages of socks and underwear, 20 pairs of shoes, 65 pairs of pants, and 150 emergency bus vouchers for students who could not ride the school bus or afford other transportation.

Thursday, at a news conference at Nixa Junior High School, officials announced that the fund's benefactors now will match donations four-to-one, as opposed to the three-to-one structure in the first year. Up to $50,000 in contributions will be matched by $200,000 from the fund's partners.

Officials also announced the establishment of the Care to Learn Fund-Nixa, which will support students in the Nixa R-2 School District, according to the release.

The Nixa fund was made possible by a $10,000 one-to-one matching donation from St. John's Clinic Force for Good.

"Care to Learn Fund recognizes that the needs of children in our area extend beyond Springfield," Doug Pitt said in the release. "The establishment of Care to Learn Fund-Nixa expands our ability to help, and the generosity of St. John's means that we can start immediately meeting the health, hygiene and hunger needs of students in Nixa."[[In-content Ad]]