CFO affiliates provide funding for local organizations

Two groups associated with the Community Foundation of the Ozarks yesterday presented funding to support tornado relief in Branson and an afternoon milk program for Springfield Public Schools students.

Branson tornado relief
The Community Foundation of Taney County, an affiliate of CFO, awarded a $92,000 grant to the Branson Area Community Organizations Active in Disaster group.

Following the EF-2 tornado that hit Branson Feb. 29, The Branson Area COAD has served as the central clearinghouse for tornado relief efforts to avoid duplicating services. Currently, caseworkers are working with about 165 individuals and families on housing, counseling and transportation services related to losses from the tornado. The grant is expected to allow the organization to complete recovery assistance for those individuals and families during the next several months, according to a news release.

The community foundation grant adds to $39,300 in other private donations provided to the Branson COAD earlier this year for recovery work.

The $92,000 in funding awarded yesterday was made available via a grant to CFO and Community Foundation of Taney County by the Margaret A. Cargill Foundation, a private Minnesota-based foundation with a focus on disaster assistance, according to the release.

Healthy Half Pints
A group of private philanthropists convened by CFO, known as the Springfield Funders Forum, yesterday presented a $50,000 donation to Springfield Public Schools to support the district's Healthy Half Pint program.

The donation was made possible by a $25,000 challenge grant from the Springfield-based Musgrave Foundation. The grant was matched dollar-for-dollar by private family foundations and individual donors, according to a separate news release.

The Springfield Funders Forum launched Healthy Half Pints in the spring as a pilot project at four elementary schools. The project, which provides an afternoon milk break for kindergarten and first-grade students, will now be extended to two years and expanded to students at six elementary schools this semester: Delaware, Sunshine, Mark Twain, Pittman, Sherwood and Horace Mann.

“Ensuring that students make it through the day without the distraction of hunger maximizes opportunities for teaching and learning,” SPS Superintendent Norm Ridder said in the release.