Clayton County Foundation for the Future Celebrates 10 Years of Giving and Growing at Annual Meeting

The Clayton County Foundation for the Future celebrated gifts of time, talent, and treasure with donors, funders, nonprofit leaders, and community advocates at its tenth anniversary celebration on April 24 at Camp Ewalu's Stone Center.

The event included individual stories from the network of individuals, board members new and old, donors, and others that comprise the foundation and its reach into Clayton County.

“The projects that people do and the dollars that they leave behind will work into years, many years to come,” said Foundation Executive Director Darla Kelchen. “In serving donors, we now hold more than 20 endowed funds and more than $2 million in assets. As grantmakers, we made 39 awards to nonprofits last year.”

“It’s kind of like watching the family grow and age and mature,” said CCFF Board President Roger Halvorson. “We’ve gone beyond most of the expectations that we had.”

Halvorson announced grant awards totaling $13,406 to the following nonprofits and programs:

City of Elkader - $1,000 to fund interpretative signage for the city’s new whitewater park. The park is the second of its kind in Iowa that opens the river to a wide range of recreational activities.

Smith and Bulldog Childcare & Learning Centers - $1,000 to provide for new playground equipment for the Little Bulldog Childcare & Learning Center in Monona and the Dr. Clifford C. Smith Childcare & Learning Center in McGregor.

MFL MarMac Community Schools - $1,000 to establish a school community garden that will provide educational opportunities to MFL Mar/Mac students.

Postville Pool, Parks and Recreation Board  - $1,000 to aid in the installation swim platforms for Postville and Monona’s joint swim team.

Postville Public Library - $1,000 to replace the roof of the Postville library, ensuring continued access to books, other resources and services for education, information, and recreation in the Postville area.

Substance Abuse Services in Clayton County - $1,000 to sustain Alcohol compliance checks in Clayton County to reduce underage drinking.

Backbone Lake Promotion – $1,000 to promote and preserve the music genres of folk, old-time and blue grass music by a adding a songwriting workshop at a this year’s Jam Camp.

City of Elkport - $1,000 to build a new playground to provide local children a safe place to play.

Edgewood Board of Economic Development - $1,000 to repair a town clock that has not chimed since the 1930’s.

Emma Big Bear Foundation - $1,000 for the preservation of the history, stories, and artifacts associated with Emma Big Bear.  Funding will support a traveling display presentation, and video and brochures documenting the memories of Emma Big Bear.

City of Monona - $816 to replace two VGB drain covers at the Family Aquatic Center, required by federal law to be replace every 10 years.  VGB stands for the late Virginia Graeme Baker, a young girl who died in a suction entrapment accident in a public spa that had no safety cover over the drain.  

Clayton County Conservation - $800 to share the history of old time medicine shows through presentations of “Dr. Dusty’s Medicine Show” at this year’s Heritage Day celebration. Osborn Heritage days stared in 1974 with the goal of providing a fall festival in Clayton County that was historically educational, entertaining, and free to the public.  

The Froelich Foundation - $690 aiding in improved visibility of the Froelich Foundation’s Educational Tour DVD.

City of Monona - Monona Gardens and Trails -  $600 to support trail mapping and branding of Monona’s Butterfly Gardens and trails.

Naturally Guttenberg - $500 to promote local tourism by providing children’s games at Guttenberg’s Stars & Stripes celebration.

For more information on the Clayton County Foundation for the Future, visit www.dbqfoundation.org/CCFF or call 563.245.2201.