Feb. 9, 2023 Subject: Eminence R-1 School District receives $25,000 grant from CFO and Coover Charitable Foundation
The Community Foundation of the Ozarks, in partnership with the Coover Charitable Foundation managed by Commerce Trust, awarded a $25,000 grant to the Eminence R-1 School District to replace unsafe playground equipment at the Eminence R-1 Public Park Playground.
“When this opportunity came along, it just made a ton of sense. We’re very excited to be a recipient,” says Eric Allen, superintendent of Eminence R-1 School District. “In addition to the school piece, the area is very tourist-driven in the summertime with trail rides and float trips; a lot of folks are passing through. I think it will be a benefit in that aspect as well as the school part. I don’t know that we would have ever had the funding to do this otherwise.”
The grant was part of the Coover Regional Celebration of Public Spaces Grant Program, totaling $250,000 to 11 projects across the Ozarks that will improve outdoor public spaces for residents and visitors of rural communities, following renewed interest and activity in outdoor experiences and recreation during the COVID-19 pandemic. The presentation of the Louis L. and Julia Dorothy Coover Charitable Foundation annual grants for rural communities took place during a virtual event on Feb. 2.
For information on other projects funded by the grant program, go to cfozarks.org/coover23.
“This year’s focus on improving public spaces is a natural fit for rural Missouri, where the region’s beauty and outdoor experiences rank among our state’s most valued assets,” said Jill Reynolds, senior vice president at Commerce Trust.
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. With these projects, the Coover Charitable Foundation has awarded nearly $8 million in grants to benefit the Ozarks since its partnership with the CFO began in 2001.
Founded in 1973, the Community Foundation of the Ozarks is marking its 50th anniversary in 2023 as the region’s largest public charitable foundation serving a network of donors, 53 regional affiliate foundations — including the Jacks Fork Community Foundation — and nonprofit partners across central and southern Missouri through its mission of resource development, community grantmaking, collaboration and public leadership.
Community Foundation of the Ozarks
P.O. Box 8960 Springfield, MO, 65801 (417) 864-6199 Fax (417) 864-8344 cfozarks.org