Granite Hills Legacy Foundation Fund Established to Promote Community Philanthropy

(June 16, 2009) Wamego, KS — Due to current deficit and budgetary limits being set by the State of Kansas, coupled with declining populations and empty storefronts, small rural communities may quickly deplete their resources due to a lack of funding and state support.

A group of community-minded philanthropists from Onaga, Wheaton, and Havensville – aka the Granite Hills area – decided to take matters into their own hands and started the Granite Hills Legacy Foundation, an affiliated fund with the Kansas Rural Communities Foundation headquartered in Wamego. The idea for this fund came out of the Hometown Prosperity Initiative work that was started last fall in Onaga.

The Hometown Prosperity Initiative is aimed at ensuring a prosperous future for small, rural communities in the face of out-migration. The effort is centered on four basic goals: preserving a portion of the capital wealth that will leave with the passing of the current generation of landowners, fostering entrepreneurship, retention of young people, and formal leadership training.

“The Granite Hills Legacy Foundation Fund is dedicated to the improvement and sustainability of the communities of Onaga, Havensville, Wheaton, and the surrounding rural areas,” said Dan Peters, GHLF president. “We formed the fund to help facilitate the support and generosity of people who are receptive to the vital needs of their native communities.”

What you will find in the area is affordable housing, a top-notch education system, one of the best health care facilities in the state, a nine-hole golf course, high-speed Internet, and friendly locals and businesses where everyone knows your name.

Deborah Stallard-Parry launched the GHLF unrestricted endowment fund with a $5,000 gift from her family foundation.

“To ensure our legacy survives for future generations of the Granite Hills area,” said Stallard-Parry, who is also GHLF secretary, “many of us are choosing the option of charitable giving to support our heritage and communities. Our goal is to provide for the future sustainability of our communities, our youth, and our schools.”

For more information about the Granite Hills Legacy Foundation, contact Peters at peters@mjbtrc.com or Stallard-Parry at knowthyself@bluevalley.net or visit the KRCF website at www.thekrcf.org.

About the Kansas Rural Communities Foundation
The formation of the Kansas Rural Communities Foundation in 2006 as 501(c)(3) nonprofit corporation created an efficient mechanism through which individuals, families, communities, corporations, nonprofit organizations, and private foundations have been able to create funds and make gifts to benefit their communities.

Donated dollars have established scholarships, built new community playgrounds, assisted families who have children with disabilities, and aided historical preservation, just to name a few. Some of the communities that have benefited from the services provided by the KRCF include Admire, Alma, Belvue, Havensville, Norton, Olsburg, Onaga, Shawnee Mission, St. George, St. Marys, Wamego, Westmoreland, and Wheaton.

– 30 –

For more information, please contact:
René Eichem, executive director
Kansas Rural Communities Foundation
1004 Lincoln Ave. |P.O. Box 25
Wamego, KS 66547
P: 785-456-8444 | F: 785-456-8443
E-mail | http://www.thekrcf.org