Suzie Light Awarded Sagamore of the Wabash at Anniversary Celebration

(Kosciusko, Indiana) More than 200 guests attended the Kosciusko County Community Foundation’s 50^th Anniversary Celebration Luncheon on November 14^th.

Community Foundation CEO, Suzie Light, welcomed guests, who included donors, volunteers and nonprofit partners. She expressed that the event was not a celebration of an organization, rather it was a celebration of all of those in attendance and those who had come before them who had invested in the community.

Board President, Sally Mahnken, shared highlights from the Community Foundation’s past fiscal year, some of which were:

• Over $2.5 million in grants awarded from all funds,
• More than $542,000 in scholarships awarded to 208 area students pursuing college, university or vocational training,
• Provided start-up funding for a child care and early learning coalition whose charge is to design and implement a 10-year strategic plan aimed at increasing access to quality child care and early learning in our county,
• Ten youth serving organizations were given the opportunity to have every $1 raised for their endowment funds matched with $4,
• 15 new funds were established by donors, bringing the total number of charitable funds held at the end of the Community Foundation’s fiscal year to 446 for assets totaling over $57 million.

Community Foundation Development Director, Brenda Rigdon, announced a $2 to $1 matching opportunity for gifts to Community Funds held at the Foundation.

Guest speakers included retired Circuit Court Judge Rex Reed, retired Cardinal Services CEO, Jane Wear, and Kosciusko County’s first Lilly Endowment Community Scholar (LECS), Matt Kloser. Reed spoke about his experiences as a board member in the 1990s and as a donor. Wear expressed appreciation for the financial and mentoring support that Cardinal received from the Community Foundation over the past 25 years. Kloser, who is now the Director of the Notre Dame Center for STEM Education, spoke about how being a recipient of the LECS scholarship not only gave him the opportunity to attend his dream school – Notre Dame, but inspired in him a desire to pour himself into the educational system, and in particular into the lives of student groups who are sometimes marginalized.

Indiana State Senator, Ryan Mishler, surprised Foundation CEO, Suzie Light, by inviting her up to the stage for a special presentation. In recognition for Light’s 25 years of service through the Community Foundation and for her many contributions to the arts, education and human services throughout the northeast Indiana region, she was presented a Sagamore of the Wabash from Governor Eric Holcomb. The Sagamore of the Wabash is an award of high distinction recognizing those who have rendered distinguished service to the Hoosier state.

For more information about Kosciusko County Community Foundation, visit www.kcfoundation.org, visit their office at 102 E Market Street, Warsaw or call 574-267-1901.