Willow Springs Community Foundation receives $10,000 Grant

The Community Foundation of the Ozarks and Missouri Foundation for Health have awarded a $10,000 grant to the Willow Springs Community Foundation through the Rural Ozarks Health Initiative to address health issues in communities in the CFO's rural service area.

 The WSCF will use the grant to support the Kinship program of the Willow Springs R-IV School District, which makes dental, vision, and medical services available to students.

"The Willow Springs Community Foundation prides itself on supporting the community," WSCF President Phill Knott said. "With this funding from the Missouri Foundation of Health and the Community Foundation of the Ozarks, it has given the Willow Springs Community Foundation a chance to help our youngest citizens. This team of community partnerships proves that more can happen when working together."

For a third year, the CFO has awarded $10,000 grants to 10 affiliate foundations to support community health programs and grantmaking. The grants are part of the Rural Ozarks Health Initiative, a program to address health issues in communities or regions served by the CFO's affiliates. Other recipients for 2020 include affiliate foundations serving Benton County, Rogersville, the Hermann area, Dallas County, Douglas County, Eldon, Houston, the Jacks Fork area, Stockton and Willow Springs.

 This grant program was developed by Missouri Foundation for Health and the CFO because of a disparity in health indicators between urban and rural areas of Missouri and the scarcity of grant resources available for rural issues in general.

"We look forward to these projects building on the success of the first two years of community-based grants across the region to support key health and wellness priorities," CFO President Brian Fogle said. "This has been an outstanding partnership with the Missouri Foundation for Health to get its resources working on the ground through our Affiliate network, which is comprised of local leaders who are well positioned to identify specific needs in their communities."

The Willow Springs Community Foundation was founded in 2001. It has granted more than $640,000 back to the community as of Dec. 31, 2019.