Featured Match Day participant:
Sugar Creek Township Park
Park Board President: Scott Miller
Mission:
Sugar Creek Township Park seeks to provide community residents of all ages the opportunity to enjoy quality leisure activities by providing safe, affordable and well-maintained public recreational facilities. By doing so, the group strives to enhance the community’s quality of life by facilitating community involvement and cultural enrichment, health and fitness activities, education, recreation and relaxation.
Organization highlights:
•Sugar Creek Township Park provides opportunities for community involvement and cultural enrichment by serving as a nexus for volunteer efforts in the New Palestine community.
•The park is utilized by fitness trail-walkers; Frisbee-golfers; families and community groups; casual and organized youth-oriented sports groups. There are also dedicated play areas for kids and pets.
•Sugar Creek Township Park serves as an ongoing outdoor laboratory experience for ecology education. In 2010, earth science students at New Palestine High School participated in a mass tree planting of native Indiana species along the park’s walking trail. A few years later, a local Eagle Scout candidate planned, organized and executed a mass planting of 3,000 native species seedlings to reforest the designated natural areas in the park.
•Volunteers have developed about half of the park’s 88-acre site, with the undeveloped areas growing corn and soybeans. The park’s dedicated natural areas are undergoing reforestation, restoring natural habitat and providing opportunities for viewing wildlife and enjoying nature.
Match Day funding plans:
The grant that Sugar Creek Township Park receives for immediate use will be used to aid a local veterans group seeking to establish a memorial at the park. This project has been in the planning process for more than a decade, and the group hopes funds raised will help bring the project to fruition.
The grant to grow the endowment plays a key role in Sugar Creek Township Park’s ability to carry out its mission for generations to come.
Because the principal of the endowment remains untouched for all time, the fund provides an ongoing stream of revenue to support the organization’s day-to-day operations and services now and far into the future.
[sc:pullout-title pullout-title=”About Match Day ” ][sc:pullout-text-begin]
Match Day, sponsored by the Hancock County Community Foundation, is a day-long fundraising event benefiting 12 local nonprofits. Between now and July 24 (Match Day), we’ll feature these nonprofits and highlight their offerings in the community.
Donations made on Match Day, July 24, will be matched two ways:
1) Every community gift received during the 24-hour period will be matched by funds from a community foundation pool of $80,000, which will go toward the organizations’ immediate needs. How much of that pool is received is proportional to how much the organization raises on Match Day.
2) All community gifts will also be endowed and matched 50 cents on the dollar, up to $7,500 per organization, from a $90,000 grant pool from the Lilly Endowment. This means each organization’s goal is to raise $15,000 in order to receive the entire $7,500 match.
All Match Day contributions must be made on July 24 in order to be counted as part of the campaign. Individuals may make online contributions at giveHCgrowHC.org. They can make a gift by cash, check (dated July 24) or credit card at the foundation office or by phone. Gifts via mail will be accepted only if postmarked July 24.
[sc:pullout-text-end][sc:pullout-title pullout-title=”About the Hancock County Community Foundation ” ][sc:pullout-text-begin]
The Hancock County Community Foundation works with individuals, families and organizations to create or grow existing permanent funds called endowments. These funds generate income that is distributed in the form of grants and scholarships to enrich and enhance life in Hancock County, as well as support the donor’s favorite charitable causes, both at home and afar, forever. The foundation has granted more than $10 million since its inception in 1992.
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