Clinton County Community Foundation to begin disbursing 2023 grant funds

LOCK HAVEN, PA – With more than 50 years of giving, the Clinton County Community Foundation Inc. is charting a course for the next half century as it works to meet the growing needs of our rural area.

Its mere existence and its future are due to the generosity of the people of Clinton County who desire to give back.

People like Charlotte Elder, Ellen Williams, Lee and Maddy Phillips, Ellis Hoberman, Stephen Poorman, The Brandt Family, The Ramm Family, Jean Blesh, Loudon and Kathryn Kyle, Gerald and Leoda Gummo, Frederick Webber Jr., Norval Remick, Geraldine English, John E. Justick, The Fromm Family, Elizabeth Wenrick, Katie Heffron, Sara Beck Ricker, Alfred and Jean Sharp, Mr. and Mrs. Allan W. Lugg, Thomas and Barbara Theil, Robert and Jean Sharpe Rempe, Lewis Wilson, Leslie Galloway, Anna Garth, Bertha Clendenen, Isadore Lipez, George McCormick, Ed McCloskey, Marjorie Deitrick, David Eiseman and Mary Groce.

These are among the many local citizens who have shown their compassion and caring through gifts to the Foundation.

Now in its 55th year, the Foundation has provided record grant amounts the past few years to area nonprofits and charities that provide critical services to a rural area that is working hard for sustainability and growth.

Over 60 area organizations will benefit from more than $592,170 in grants awarded by the Foundation this year.

Grant funds help area fire companies ­already challenged with manpower ­ to pay for fire station repairs, or to buy a trailer to haul critical equipment. The grants also help young mothers to be, women with newborns, to feed the hungry, help victims of house fires, house the homeless, teach children about good citizenship and enterprise, give shoes to people in need, and to support community events, recreation and well-being.

The Foundation encourages gifts or bequests that will, in turn, be used to strengthen our community.

Eligible donors can guide how their money is directed.

All funds are carefully managed and invested by the Foundation, guided by its professional investment adviser and audited.

Of the total awarded this year, $187,333 is committed by donors for causes near and dear to their hearts, while $15,000 will go to Central Mountain High School students for scholarships.

“We encourage grant recipients to reach out to us to schedule check presentations,” said Allan Lugg Jr., Foundation board president.

They can do that, he said, by calling the Foundation at 570-220-1038 or sending an email to cccf@clintoncountyfoundation.org.

The first series of presentations begin March 10 involving the Lee R. and Madeleine Phillips Memorial Trust.

Recipients of those funds include the Clinton County United Way, the Clinton County SPCA, St. Paulás Food Bank, Woolrich and Dunnstown Volunteer Fire Companies and the Annie Halenbake Ross Library.

All donations to the Foundation are tax exempt.