Impact the future of your community

Letter to the Editor

To the Editor,

     Every year the Jones County Community Foundation (JCCF) works collaboratively with non-profits to support youth and families across our region. Our “Vision to Learn” initiative has been particularly impactful, working through our local school districts connecting students and families to vision services and alleviating a possible barrier to a student’s learning.

     Christine Gent, school nurse at Midland Community School in Wyoming, shared, “No words can express the level of appreciation we have for the Community Foundation’s support of Vision to Learn. Thanks to the Foundation, Vision to Learn provided a vision screening for every student in our district, and all who needed glasses received a pair at no cost to families.”

     This story—along with the countless others like it—demonstrates the importance of the JCCF. Like all community foundations, we are uniquely situated to improve our region through supporting innovative solutions and creating powerful partnerships. From Nov. 12-18, we celebrate Community Foundation Week, a time when we can share and reflect on the stories of impact over the last year. Though you may not yet know your local community foundation, you’ve likely felt its impact.

     That’s because the JCCF, along with the Community Foundation of Greater Dubuque and 900-plus other community foundations across the country, help to bring donors and residents together. Community foundations work to support the efforts that will help the places we call home continue to flourish and grow.

     Disaster preparedness is one of the many ways community foundations take the long view for their communities, working collaboratively to understand our region’s greatest needs and use our strengths—convening stakeholders and connecting donors with causes they care about—to address those needs. Thanks to local generosity, the JCCF has been able to grant more than $14,000 through our Disaster Relief Fund to help residents stay healthy. We are deeply grateful for this support.

     As our region’s critical needs continue to evolve, we’ll continue working hard to meet them. As we enter the giving season, millions of people from every background will be looking to give back to the communities that have supported them. They’ll also look to ensure that their heartfelt giving—however they choose to give—will have the most impact. That’s why so many of them will choose to give to a community foundation.

     A gift to your local community foundation is an investment in the future of your community. We like to say that community foundations are “here for good.” At the JCCF, we don’t think about the next election or business cycle—we think about the next generation and the next after that.

     That can seem a daunting task, but it’s one we all share. During Community Foundation Week, I hope you’ll join us in recognizing our collective impact and the difference we can make together.

     To make a gift for the future of your community or learn more, visit dbqfoundation.org/jccf. Follow us on Facebook at facebook.com/ jonescountycf to find out about the ways people like you make an impact every day.

Sherri Hunt

JCCF coordinator

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