The Community Foundation of the Ozarks and Commerce Trust Co. have partnered to present $127,500 in grants to 14 regional organizations working to stem rural poverty issues in southern Missouri.
The 2012 Louis L. and Julia Dorothy Coover Regional Grantmaking Program presentation is scheduled 2 p.m. today at Commerce Trust Co., 1345 E. Battlefield Road, according to a CFO news release.
In honor of her late husband, Coover, who worked for Commerce Bank for 30 years before her death, in 1992 established the Louis L. and Julia Dorothy Coover Charitable Foundation. Including this year's grants, the foundation has donated $1.5 million to Ozarks organizations.
The grant committee received more than $715,000 in requests for this year's grant cycle, up by roughly $500,000 compared to last year's requests, the release said.
This year's grant recipients are:
- The Child Advocacy Center, $20,000 for the costs of 50 forensic interviews in the south-central region to identify possible child-abuse victims;
- The Kitchen Inc., $18,380 for staffing and lodging vouchers for a homeless prevention program in Christian County;
- Catholic Charities of Southern Missouri, $16,000 to add a social worker and to fund office, equipment and program expenses;
- Ozarks Food Harvest, $11,420 for its regional school backpack programs;
- Least of These Inc., $10,000 for materials to support Care to Learn programs in Christian County;
- Polk County Health Center, $10,000 to expand services at the Polk County Free Clinic;
- Fordland Clinic, Inc., $9,200 for dental root canal and crown supplies;
- ARC of the Ozarks, $5,000 to provide dental care for people with disabilities;
- Care to Learn-Rogersville, $5,000 to support the Springfield-based organization's Rogersville chapter's efforts to meet health, hygiene and clothing needs of schoolchildren;
- Care to Learn-Willard, $5,000 to support the Willard chapter;
- Delmina Woods Community Council, Forsyth, $5,000 for medical, hygiene and job-interview expenses for young women transitioning out of the facility;
- Good Samaritan Care Center, of Mountain View, $5,000 for construction, equipment and materials;
- Ozarks Resource Group, of Buffalo, $5,000 to fund its dental program and develop a backpack food program; and
- Care to Learn-Clever, $2,500 to support the organization's Clever chapter.
CFO and Commerce Trust also will partner on a second Coover Regional Grantmaking Program this year, which will focus on funding education in rural schools. The deadline for
that program is March 2.
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