Fort Scott Area Community Foundation receives proceeds from gala

Members of the Community Gala Steering Committee look on as Carla Bryant Farmer, co-chairman of the gala with Ken Lunt, presents a check for $13,089 to Janet Braun, Fort Scott Area Community Foundation chairwoman, at the recent chamber coffee hosted by the foundation, in the River Room at the Buffalo Grill, Fort Scott.

Through a matching grant from the Giving Resources to Our World Healthy Kansas Initiative (Grow II), proceeds from this year's Community Gala will total $20,000.

At a Dec. 16 Fort Scott Area Chamber of Commerce Coffee, Carla Bryant Farmer, who co-chaired the event with Ken Lunt, presented a check for $13,089 to Janet Braun, Fort Scott Area Community Foundation chairwoman. The coffee was hosted by the foundation at the River Room at the Buffalo Grill restaurant.

Proceeds awarded to the Fort Scott Area Community Foundation will go into an unrestricted endowment fund with the interest used to serve in perpetuity the needs of local non-profit organizations and services.

"Of course I'm delighted because it will contribute to the Fort Scott Area Community Foundation fund and be eligible for a matching grant from the Kansas Health Foundation," Braun said.

Farmer said the officials are hoping people will be encouraged to offer contributions to the fund with this initiative in place.

"We're hoping others will take note of this opportunity being provided by the (Grow II initiative)" to direct their contributions and pledges to the community foundation, Farmer said. She added this is a six-year opportunity with five years remaining. Donations can also take the form of bequests, she said.

Farmer said it could be possible to create an endowment of $300,000-$400,000. With a core funds collecting interest, that interest could be used in perpetuity to fund nonprofit organizations and projects in the community.

The $13,089 represents net proceeds from the second annual Fort Scott Community Gala, held at the end of August 2010 at the River Room.

Originally a hospital-based gala, Farmer said the community gala has allowed funding of a broader range of projects in the community.

Since the Fort Scott Area Community Foundation was founded in 2007, it has awarded a total of $20,775.49 in grants to non-profit organizations in the Fort Scott area. "Helping these worthy organizations makes Fort Scott a better place for everyone to live," Braun says on the Web site.