Darr Family Foundation awards $177K in grants

The Darr Family Foundation yesterday announced grant awards totaling $177,103 to 24 area agencies.

The grants were awarded during the foundation’s fiscal year which ends June 30. They were announced May 4 at the foundation’s third-annual grant presentation event held at Missouri State University’s Darr Agricultural Center.

Child Advocacy Center, Foster Adopt Connect, Friends Against Hunger and I Pour Life received the largest grants, each getting $20,000.

Grant recipients, in alphabetical order, are:

    •    Betty and Bobby Allison Ozarks Counseling Center, $2,620 for the Early Childhood Love and Logic project;
    •    Boys and Girls Clubs of Southwest Missouri, $7,500 for its Reading Buddy program;
    •    Care to Learn, $10,000 for the Hunger Pyramid of Intervention program;
    •    Cents of Pride, $2,500 for the Cents of Pride school stores;
    •    The Child Advocacy Center Inc., $20,000 for payment of visits of children needing services;
    •    Community Foundation of the Ozarks Inc., $5,000 for support of Give Ozarks Day;
    •    Convoy of Hope, $6,000 for over 6,000 bags of groceries for hungry families;
    •    Council of Churches – Ambassadors for Children, $6,000 for providing new clothing items to foster children in Greene, Christian and Taney counties;
    •    Diaper Bank of the Ozarks, $5,000 for providing diapers to needy families;
    •    Foster Adopt Connect Inc.; for its Extreme Recruitment program;
    •    Friends Against Hunger, $20,000 for the 2015 Meals for Missouri project;
    •    Good Samaritan Boys Ranch, $2,500 for playground site construction and equipment;
    •    I Pour Life, $20,000 for the LifeStrengths USA project;
    •    Isabel’s House, Crisis Nursery of the Ozarks, $5,000 to pay the salary of a licensed professional counselor;
    •    Least Of These Inc., $2,500 for providing one gallon of milk to 1,326 families with children in Christian County;
    •    Ozarks Literacy Council, $2,500 for the organization’s preliteracy program;
    •    Polk County House of Hope Inc., $2,500 for upgrading the security system at the emergency shelter, main office, thrift store and food pantry;
    •    Pregnancy Care Center, $2,500 for support of the Healthy Families, Healthy Babies program;
    •    Ronald McDonald House Charities of the Ozarks Inc., $7,783 for providing an X-ray sensor for the Ronald McDonald Care Mobile, also known as The Tooth Truck;
    •    Springfield Symphony Orchestra, $5,000 for the Ensembles-In-Schools program;
    •    The Kitchen Inc., $5,000 for the benefit of Rare Breed Youth Services;
    •    The Learning Tree Inc., $5,000 to support programs for developmentally disabled children;
    •    The Salvation Army, $5,000 to buy winter coats for children; and
    •    Vision Rehabilitation Center of the Ozarks, $7,200 to prepare vision exams and services for uninsured children and the homeless.

Founded in 2002 by businessman William Darr and his family, the Darr Family Foundation awards grants in the areas of education, health and human services, especially for organizations helping young people and those from disadvantaged circumstances, according to DarrFF.org.