Glenwood School and the Heart of the Ozarks United Way received more than $34,000 in funding from the Community Foundation of the Ozarks, in partnership with the Louis L. and Julia Dorothy Coover Charitable Foundation and Commerce Trust, on April 30, announce officials with the CFO.
A $20,000 grant will allow Glenwood to build an early childhood preschool playground at the school on Highway 17.
“The Early Childhood playground will (allow) Parents as Teachers students, the community, and preschool and kindergarten students to have their own separate playground where they can have more imaginative play,” said Stephanie Johnson with the school. “They’re all very excited about this opportunity to have their own special playground.”
An additional $14,107 was distributed to Heart of the Ozarks United Way to support the Conversation Starters Program, a collaboration of West Plains’ art and therapy communities to provide mental health workshops and public art events at the Yellow House Community Arts Center on West Trish Knight Street.
“We are seeing a lot of people up to six months on waiting lists for any therapy at all, and there really isn’t any group therapy that’s free right now in West Plains,” said Stacy Tintocalis with the local United Way. “In addition to providing group therapy to the community, we hope that this program establishes the Yellow House as a friendly place, and an inclusive place, where people can meet for events, make friends and return for social activities.”
A total of $220,000 was granted to 14 nonprofits through the Coover Regional Vibrant Communities Grant Program to address the epidemic of loneliness and social isolation by creating meaningful ways to connect people with their communities. For a complete list of recipients, go to cfozarks.org/coover24.
“We’re grateful to fund these grants that will bring residents of rural communities closer together,” said Jill Reynolds, senior vice president at Commerce Trust and chair of the Coover Foundation grant selection committee. “We congratulate these agencies for their innovative approaches to building community.”
Julia Dorothy Coover, a 30-year Commerce employee, founded the Louis L. and Julia Dorothy Coover Charitable Foundation in 1992 to honor her husband’s memory. The private foundation, managed by Commerce Trust, has funded about $8 million in grants to benefit rural communities across the CFO’s service area since the partnership began in 2001. Earlier in April, the Coover Foundation, Commerce Trust and the CFO granted $80,000 to 18 rural school districts in the Coover/Rural Schools Partnership Grant Program.
The Community Foundation of the Ozarks is the region’s largest public charitable foundation serving donors, nonprofit partners and more than 50 regional affiliate foundations — including the Community Foundation of West Plains — with assets totaling $427 million as of June 30, 2023. The CFO’s mission is to improve the quality of life for everyone in central and southern Missouri through resource development, community grantmaking, collaboration and public leadership.
