Making a difference right here in Elkhart County
These stories appear in our recent annual reports and provide a more complete story to the generosity of our community.
Acts of Service Continues to Promote Volunteerism
Volunteers in our community continue to show resilience as they support nonprofit organizations and offer work and skills. Acts of Service continues to match helping hands with nonprofits in need of volunteers, as well as promote volunteerism in our community. Acts of Service has dozens of business partners that encourage and even organize employees serving in the community. Several of them spent days serving in the community. Key Club members at Concord High School also made cards to encourage others. To learn more about Acts of Service, use the QR code with your smartphone or go to www.ActsofService.com. This story Read More »
Data Will Help Guide Early Childhood Initiatives
The village is gathering around the children of Elkhart County with some new ways to help raise them to be lifelong learners. The Kids and Families Committee of the Community Foundation is focused on awarding grants to empower early childhood development and education. Helping children from birth to age eight is one of the areas of emphasis for Community Investment Grants. Data and Results-Based Accountability will be key components of the effort to help address areas of need and improve performance. “We are asking nonprofits to work together, to work with the community, to achieve the best outcomes for all Read More »
A Life Full of Impact Becomes a Legacy for Jim Hahn
When Jim Hahn was first diagnosed with cancer in October 2020, his reaction was calm. His wife Cindy says, “He would tell me, ‘God gave me this to make a difference.’” While he battled seven rounds of chemotherapy in the Elkhart General Hospital, Jim kept a small, spiral notebook by his side. In it, were the names of all the nurses, receptionists and other caretakers he came in contact with at the oncology clinic. He knew who their spouses were, where they lived and whether they had kids or pets. Cindy recalls him being able to hold a conversation with Read More »
A Spark of Generosity is Growing to Honor Connie Luce
Connie Luce made sure that the young people at Bashor Children’s Home got a great Thanksgiving meal. Donors have made sure that the tradition will continue for years to come and that every meal, not just the one at the holiday, comes out of Connie’s Kitchen. Connie was a volunteer at Bashor for more than 30 years and the head cook and decorator for the holiday for 27 years. Connie died August 13, 2020, after living with a glioblastoma brain tumor for more than one and a half years. A couple, who wishes to remain anonymous, honored her by creating Read More »
Tales from An Old Homestead
Tucked in a cornfield near Nappanee, an old homestead whispers its stories to those who will listen. Helen Mishler wanted to make sure those tales from the Daniel Stump Homestead would keep being heard, that those who came to visit would get a sense of the history of this place and those who lived here. Helen died a few days before Christmas 2020, but because of her gift to the Community Foundation of Elkhart County, those stories will be heard for years to come. Daniel and Salome “Sally” Stump moved to this plot of land from Canada in the late Read More »
At Welch Packaging, Charity is Just Part of Doing Business
At Welch Packaging, doing the right thing is just part of doing business. The company founded in 1985 by Scott Welch and silent partner Don Kindt continues to grow and continues to give in a huge variety of ways. President Scott Welch views himself as the quarterback of a team that gives time and money to improve the communities in which the company does business, particularly Elkhart County. “My belief is that God gave me a purpose in life and I’ve had a lot of lucky things happen to me. I’m a conduit, in a sense, if good things happen Read More »
Tolson Formation Process is Progressing Well
The effort to build the new Tolson Center for Community Excellence should result in an exciting groundbreaking in the near future. Since summer 2018, members of the community have rallied to create a more vibrant hub on the south side of Elkhart. The Elkhart City Council defunding Tolson resulted first in a task force and then a larger effort to build a new facility that will serve the neighborhood and beyond with spaces for youth development and recreation as well as community gatherings, sports and educational opportunities. The center at 1320 Benham Avenue is expected to open in its new Read More »
Career Paths Sometimes Surprise Us
Colin Gregory didn’t expect an emergency work call on his way home from his job. As a contractor for Advanced Testing Laboratory, a company that provides lab-based contract work for Eli Lilly, he was teaching himself new skills. His love for learning had been recognized a decade ago when he received the Lilly Endowment Community Scholarship, funded by Lilly Endowment and administered locally by the Community Foundation. Colin became one of the scientists who could help respond to a growing pandemic. “Our team was being asked by the clinical diagnostics laboratory [at Eli Lilly] if we could come in the Read More »
Doc’s Pavilion
Doc’s Pavilion Will Celebrate the Community He Loved In the first few years after moving to Wakarusa in the 1950s, Robert “Doc” Abel built a community swimming pool and pool house in his backyard. Wakarusa, a town of 1,100 at the time, didn’t have a community pool, so Doc Abel’s new one attracted large crowds of kids and adults. To this day, Wakarusa residents remember the good times in and around that pool from the 1950s to the 1970s. After he died in 2017, people who came to his viewing said one of two things. “So many people either said, Read More »
The Joy of Giving
As a young boy, Tony Magaldi watched his father buy a new television set for a local laundromat attendant who was also a widow and mother. “He always tried to help people. That spurred me on too,” Tony says. “My parents lived paycheck to paycheck. My dad was a steelworker on the south side of Chicago,” recalls Tammy Magaldi, Tony’s wife. “While they didn’t give cash, they gave of themselves.” Now decades later, the couple says their parents’ small acts of kindness unleashed a passion for philanthropy that continues to grow. Like the single spark that ignites an autumn bonfire Read More »
