Barton County Community Foundation awards Coover grants to two area nonprofits

March 08, 2021
Lamar Area Christian Ministries was the grantee that received $9,000 from the Community Foundation of the Ozarks Coover Grant. The grant will serve with utility assistance and food purchases for the Barton County Good Samaritan. Pictured are, left to right, BCCF President Nancy Curless, board member Tom Shields, Chris Elswick with the Good Samaritan and board members Bruce Belline and Cindy McFadden.
Click for more images

The Barton County Community Foundation (BCCF) applied for one of 30 $10,000 grants awarded through the Community Foundation of the Ozarks Covid Response and Recovery Program. BCCF was selected for a grant to help meet needs in Barton County. Two local organizations received funds.

The Barton County Backpack Program received a $1,000 grant, with Barton County Good Samaritan receiving a $9,000 grant to help students and residents in need during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Community Foundation of the Ozarks manages the Coover grantmaking program and opened this year’s grant round to its 52 affiliate foundations for proposals to support community recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Barton County Backpack Program is a nonprofit organization that provides children with backpacks containing nutritious food items for the weekend. The agency currently provides backpacks to 65 children and the service is available to children in the three Barton County schools. The program will use its $1,000 grant to continue providing meals and backpacks.

Barton County Good Samaritan, which has been serving the county since the 1980s, assists residents who may need essential supplies, food and more. The nonprofit will use its $9,000 grant to continue providing financial assistance and other resources to those in need.

Barton County Community Foundation President Nancy Curless supported requests of the two agencies.

“The two projects in this application support our mission ‘to build and strengthen our communities,’” she said. “The BCCF is committed to identifying needs in our communities and working with the nonprofit organizations that can help meet those needs.”

The grants are made possible by the CFO’s partnership with the Coover Charitable Foundation, managed by Commerce Trust Company. The Foundation was created by Julia Dorothy Coover, a longtime Commerce Bank employee, in honor of her late husband. Since its partnership with the CFO began in 2002, the Coover grantmaking program has awarded more than $7.1 million to agencies improving the quality of life in rural communities across central and southern Missouri.

“One of the primary goals of the Louis L. and Julia Dorothy Coover Charitable Grantmaking program is to be flexible to respond to high-priority needs in our region,” said Jill Reynolds, senior vice president at Commerce Trust Company. “The nonprofit community has worked tirelessly over the past year to help residents cope with the wide range of issues created by the pandemic. We are pleased to work with CFO Affiliate leaders who are well positioned to identify local needs and the organizations responding to them.”

The Community Foundation of the Ozarks is a regional public charitable foundation established in 1973 that provides asset and resource development, grantmaking and public leadership through a network of donors, 52 affiliate foundations, including the Barton County Community Foundation and more than 600 nonprofit partners across central and southern Missouri.