The Community Foundation of the Ozarks, in partnership with the Coover Charitable Foundation managed by Commerce Trust, awarded a $25,000 grant to the Eleven Point Valley Community Center Inc., commonly called the Thomasville Community Center. These funds will support the creation of a new playground in Thomasville. The previous playground was destroyed by flooding in 2017.
Why It’s Needed
Brenda Bell, a representative of the community center, is extremely grateful for these funds. She said,
We are located east of West Plains and in one of the counties with the highest rates of poverty in Missouri, so playground equipment areas are limited in our part of the country. The community center is an old school that served as the Thomasville High School from 1940 to 1968 and it now serves as an event center for the area and lots of family reunions and community events. The addition of the playground will truly be an asset.”
The grant was part of the Coover Regional Celebration of Public Spaces Grant Program, totaling $250,000 to 11 projects across the Ozarks that will improve outdoor public spaces for residents and visitors of rural communities, following renewed interest and activity in outdoor experiences and recreation during the COVID-19 pandemic. The presentation of the Louis L. and Julia Dorothy Coover Charitable Foundation annual grants for rural communities took place during a virtual event on Feb. 2.
For information on other projects funded by the grant program, go to cfozarks.org/coover23.
Grant’s Focus
“This year’s focus on improving public spaces is a natural fit for rural Missouri, where the region’s beauty and outdoor experiences rank among our state’s most valued assets,” said Jill Reynolds, senior vice president at Commerce Trust.
Julia Dorothy Coover, a 30-year Commerce employee, founded the Louis L. and Julia Dorothy Coover Charitable Foundation in 1992 to honor her husband’s memory. With these projects, the Coover Charitable Foundation has awarded nearly $8 million in grants to benefit the Ozarks since its partnership with the CFO began in 2001.
Founded in 1973, the Community Foundation of the Ozarks is marking its 50th anniversary in 2023 as the region’s largest public charitable foundation serving a network of donors, 53 regional affiliate foundations — including the Alton Community Foundation and the Community Foundation of West Plains Inc. — and nonprofit partners across central and southern Missouri through its mission of resource development, community grantmaking, collaboration, and public leadership.
