Giving Back, Looking Ahead
The purpose of The Community Foundation is to develop a permanent charitable trust fund for Decatur and Macon County. Donations are invested and distributions from the investment earnings are made annually. Donor recommended distributions in 2009 totaled nearly $1,000,000. Over $4,000,000 has been distributed from donor advised and designated funds through The Foundation since 2000.
The Foundation publishes purposes and timetables for grant making when funds are available for discretionary grants. During the announced application periods proposals are accepted in accordance with The Foundation Grant Guidelines.
With grants from the David and Karen Frahlman Charitable Fund, and the Jesse and Louise Parsons Charitable Fund, both held at The Community Foundation, God’s Shelter of Love will buy fresh meat and vegetables for the residents of the shelter this winter.
God’s Shelter of Love is a residential homeless shelter incorporated 19 years ago. The average stay for a resident of the home is three to four months. Some people live there as long as 3-1/2 years. Shelter director Ardena Hunter notes "the longer they stay, the better off they are."
The home can accommodate as many as 15 residents, including single women and women with small children and families. As a condition for shelter, all residents must actively job seek and all children must attend school.
Contributions can be made to an endowment fund established for the shelter at The Community Foundation, 125 N. Water St., Suite 200, Decatur, Illinois 62523, or to the annual budget of the organization at its Decatur address, 925 N. Union Street, 62522.
E.E. "Pete" Nicholls’ dream of honoring World War II veterans is progressing very nicely, thanks to Larry Foster. Pete searched for 4-1/2 years for a site for a memorial with no success. When no site was found, Larry Foster, a financial advisor and city council member, promised to take up the torch. Thanks to the Decatur Park Board and The Decatur Parks Foundation a site was found a few yards east of the Children’s Museum of Illinois in Scovill Park.
Before his death in June Pete, and also Gordon Brenner, spent countless hours searching microfilm in the library to be sure the list of World War II dead was accurate. Pete had a concept for the memorial and enlisted retired architect Graham Bradley to put the ideas on paper. A committee consisting of Dave Freyling, Gordon Brenner, Bob Falstrom, Peter Nicholls, Rudy Escobar, and Orv Graham are working on raising money and completing the design for the memorial. To date $40,000 has been raised with an estimated cost of $250,000. The memorial will be built with private donations. Tax deductible donations can be made to The Community Foundation World War II Memorial Fund.
Golfing for a cure? You bet!
One of the pleasures in life that Bob Litz enjoyed most was playing golf. His family will tell you that drinking Miller Lite ran a close second, along with spoiling his grandkids! Two years ago, at the age of 61, Litz passed away from a cancerous brain tumor. And to keep his memory alive and continue the fight against cancer, the Litz Family now hosts an annual Bob Litz Charity Open at the Lakeshore Golf Course in Taylorville.
The 2nd Annual Bob Litz Charity Open was held on September 6, 2008 and raised $5,000 to help with cancer research and awareness. Although teams forged ahead at their first event in 2007, the weather was not cooperative and the monsoon-like rains that fell put a damper on the event. At the most recent event, however, the sun was shining and friends and family had a beautiful day for golfing and reminiscing about the "good times" with Litz.
Dr. Dolores Estrada-Garcia, medical oncologist with Cancer Care Specialists of Central Illinois, was also present to share information and answer any questions from participants.
HOPE is a wonderful thing. HOPE that our children and grandchildren will not know what a devastating disease cancer can be. HOPE that one day our society will look back and say those were the old days when cancer took the life of a loved one. HOPE that even today there are new research trials and new treatments available for our friends and family. HOPE that in the future, cancer will be in the past.
And for the present? Knowing that people like Bob Litz fought a good fight and that a community continues to gather to remember and honor his memory (as well as make new memories) on the golf course each year makes this world a better place.
The 3rd Annual Bob Litz Charity Open is already scheduled for Saturday, September 12th, with a tee-off time of 8 a.m. For more information and photos, please contact Karla Endris at (217) 824-5700 or visit www.boblitzgolf.com.
A special thanks to all participants and to the Litz Family for donating the proceeds of Bob Litz Charity Open to the CCSCI Charitable Fund.