This week’s Giving Tuesday initiative proved to be a success for local community foundations. The Marshall County Community Foundation chose to focus its efforts on the Marshall County Promise program, according to Executive Director Linda Yoder. “So at the end of the day, we took in donations of $5,428, which means that there will be $10,856 coming in to support, in essence, scholarships, money for higher education for all of our students in Marshall County,” she says. “Specifically, we’re targeting our kindergartners, first graders, and second graders.”
Yoder says that money will be used to offer incentives for children and their families to save for college or higher education. “We have a Marshall County Promise Fund here at the foundation, and what we do, when parents sign up their kids for a College Choice 529 account, kindergartners and first graders, we put $25 into their account. So all they have to do is register. They open the account. We put $25 in. Then, when those students get to be in second grade, if they’ve found a champion, somebody that will put $25 into their account, we’d put an additional $25 in.” The goal is to add additional stipends and incentives to the program, as the fund grows.
Beyond Marshall County Promise, Yoder says the county continues to see generosity in other areas, such as the United Way of Marshall County, as well as the creation of new funds at the community foundation.
