The Spirit of Giving

As 2010 draws to a close, many people start to reflect on company performance, Top 10 lists, Best and Worst lists and a myriad of other topics.  The Bucyrus Area Community Foundation, since its beginning in 1984, has been very fortunate to continually provide support for Bucyrus and Crawford County charities.  We’re taking this opportunity to share with you our Top 5 list of things we’re thankful for this holiday season.

The Bucyrus Area Community Foundation (BACF) held its annual Match Day event November 17. On that day, any money raised by organizations that had endowment funds with the foundation was matched $0.50 for every dollar raised by that organization. Although the foundation’s goal of $50,000 was not met, $35,000 was considered a much needed boost to local non profits by BACF executive director, Janet Pry.

No matter the size or location, local charities and non-profit organizations across America are struggling in today’s rough economy, and although the desired outcomes of each may be slightly different, the main challenges and obstacles each organization faces seems to be the same. Several questions arise, such as how do we provide funding when the finances just aren’t there to work with anymore or how do we let people know we’re still here? Unfortunately, Crawford County is not exempt from the current, unfortunate economic situation and is finding that more and more local groups are presented with the same challenges (as those on a global scale) and are being forced to sit down and examine the same types of difficult questions. 

The Bucyrus Area Community Foundation is pleased to announce the recipients of 2010 scholarships.

According to the Ohio Department of Development, Crawford County is a distressed county.  Challenges include unemployment, lack of educational attainment beyond high school, workforce skill needs, decreasing population, duplication of services causing inefficiencies in government and social services agencies, and a rising use and demand of public assistance.

Through its relationship with the Foundation, the Buckeye Central Endowment Committee works to enhance educational opportunities for students in the Buckeye Central Schools.

As school district budgets across the state of Ohio shrink, teachers continue to struggle to have the tools needed to properly educate children.