GREENFIELD — It’s not every day you find teenagers competing for the chance to win $1,000, only to give it all away.
Yet that’s precisely the concept behind the Martha Beckenholdt Youth Philanthropy Award, an honor granted each year to a deserving Hancock County high school student.
Applications for this year went live Jan. 8 and are being accepted through Feb. 21.
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Local high school juniors with a history of serving their communities are encouraged to apply for a chance to have $1,000 donated to a nonprofit of their choice. Twenty-two recipients have done just that since the Hancock County Community Foundation first offered the award in 1997.
“The award is reflective of Martha Beckenholdt herself,” said Mary Gibble, community foundation president. “Martha was a wonderful philanthropist in our community. The foundation’s board of directors created this award with the concept of honoring Martha by awarding students who exhibit some of the same qualities that she possessed.”
Beckenholdt, a longtime Greenfield resident who died in 2014, had a very giving heart, said Gibble. She was the lead donor for Beckenholdt Family Park at Franklin Street and County Road 300N in Greenfield, and served on a number of nonprofit boards in Hancock County and beyond.
“She was a very well-known individual from that perspective, but basically this award is meant to honor the act of doing community service without expecting anything in return,” Gibble said. “These students want to apply for this award knowing that they are going to do so to help a nonprofit they care about.”
Students traditionally clamor for the opportunity, said Gibble, going through an intense application and interview process for the chance to benefit their charity of choice.
“I really think that speaks to their desire to give back to a cause that they care about through the process,” she said.
When Emily Ebbert won the award in 2017, she knew exactly where she wanted the money to go — the Shirley Volunteer Fire Department where her dad volunteers, and where Emily is now a firefighter herself.
As a student at Eastern Hancock High School, Ebbert volunteered at the fire department and also worked with Destiny Color Guard, a special-needs performance group organized through Greenfield-Central High School.
“Winning the Martha Beckenholdt Youth Philanthropy Award was a great experience because it provided the ability to give back to an organization that provides so much to the community,” said Ebbert, who graduated in 2018 and is now studying applied behavior analysis at Ball State University. After graduation, she hopes to work as a behavior therapist in the Greenfield area, eventually running her own treatment center.
Her dad, Andrew Ebbert, couldn’t have been prouder upon hearing she chose the Shirley Fire Department as her grant beneficiary.
“We used the funds as part of matching funds for another grant used to install a generator system for our fire station,” he said. “In the event of a power outage we are now able to maintain electricity at our station. This allows not only continued station readiness, but we can use the facility as a shelter in case of area-wide inclement weather.”
Kindergartners were the ones who benefited from the youth award in 2015, when Emily Jones chose to grant $1,000 to the Kindergarten 101 program run by Hancock County Purdue Extension. She volunteered more than 400 hours for the program during four summers in high school.
“The program was created for children that are about to go into kindergarten but haven’t been in a school setting like preschool or daycare,” Jones said. “It’s only a week long and a couple hours each day, but it’s beneficial because it helps take the fears away that they have about school and turns it into an exciting journey they are about to embark on.”
Before graduating from Greenfield-Central High School in 2017, Jones mainly volunteered through 4-H and FFA but also helped out the local food pantry and soup kitchen. She’s now studying communications and business at Hanover College. “My plans after college are to hopefully stay in the agricultural industry and use my passion for public speaking to help advocate for the industry,” she said.
Gibble hopes a number of students will apply to join the ranks of those who have been able to give back to the organizations they love the most.
Applicants must be Hancock County high school juniors with a recommendation from a high school staff member or nonprofit organization leader located in Hancock County.
To apply, visit www.givehcgrowhc.org/martha-beckenholdt-youth-philanthropy-award.
Contact HCCF education officer Janet White at (317) 462-8870 or [email protected] for more information.
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More information on the Martha Beckenholdt Youth Philanthropy Award is available by contacting Janet White at 317-462-8870 or [email protected] for more information.
To apply, visit www.givehcgrowhc.org/martha-beckenholdt-youth-philanthropy-award.
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