Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Smith talks about Community Foundation

Gurdon Rotary Club president, Allen Wimberly made a few public announcements to start the group's weekly meeting.

The Gurdon High School Marching Band will hold a band concert on December 8, at 7 p.m. at the GHS Cafetorium.

Jon Capps, wanted to remind everyone of the Gurdon Christmas Parade and encourage all groups, churches and other organizations to enter a float. Also, the Chamber will be selling it's first edition collector's Christmas ornament for anyone interested. The cost of the ornament is $10 and can be purchased at either bank in Gurdon or the Gurdon Times.

Delton Simpson reminded all Rotary members and guests to keep the soldiers, whether they be in Iraq or wherever, in their prayers throughout the holiday season and always.

Jane Lucas, from Arkadelphia, was present at the meeting. Austin Capps was in charge of this weeks program. He introduced Lucas and then let her introduce his program.

Lucas then introduced Blaine Smith who is the Chamber of Commerce Director in Arkadelphia and is in charge of the Clark County Community Foundation.

The Clark County Community Foundation (CCCF), an affiliate of the Arkansas Community Foundation, is a non-profit organization set up to help donors invest in the future of Clark County. The CCCF creates endowment funds, builds assets, and awards grants to help meet the needs of the community.

Through the "Partners Program" with the Arkansas Community Foundation most donations will be matched dollar for dollar through a gift from the Walton Foundation. Any citizen may become a philanthropist through gifts to the Community Foundation.

Smith said the foundation was started after the tornado that ripped through Arkadelphia in 1997.

"After the tornado, everyone wanted to pitch in and help Arkadelphia out. We didn't know what to do, because we didn't have a fund to put monetary donations in and we wanted to do it right. We knew we needed some type of 501c3. At the time Veda Morgan and Tod Turner were working on this also. We called Senator Bumpers and that is how the Arkadelphia Community Foundation came about. Year's later the Walton Foundation became involved it has grown ever since," said Smith.

Board members of the foundation are: Lewis Shepherd, Ben Elrod, Jim Andrews, Jane Lucas, Linda Bittle, Robert McCallum, Steve Wilcoxon, Veda Morgan, Anita Cabe, Joe Nix, Theda Aud, Clayton Franklin, Don Chaney, Virginia Smith, Chester Clark, Maralyn Sommer, Kristal Conine, Estella Forte, Camille Hart and Betty McCorkle.

The Clark County Community Foundation has an unrestricted grantmaking fund that allows it to assess the community's needs and make grants to nonprofit organizations to support those needs.

This fund awarded $10,000 in grants during the July 1, 2002  June 30, 2003, fiscal year to the following nonprofit organizations: South Arkansas Community Development, Central Arkansas Development Council in Arkadelphia, Community Family Enrichment Center, Inc., Center for Language Proficiency, Arkadelphia Human Development Center, United for Youth, CASA of Clark County, Clark County Fair Association, DeGray Amateur Radio Club, DeGray Lake Triathlon Festival, Curtis Rural Fire Department, Southern CDC Property Management Initiative and the City of Arkadelphia Parks and Recreation.

If you would like to establish a fund with the CCCF, contact Smith at blain@cityofarkadelphia.com.