Chisolm Trail Communities Foundation

Chisolm Trail Communities Foundation

By Andrea Leptinsky Friday, 12 March 2010

GEORGETOWN — Georgetown’s Chisholm Trail Communities Foundation is focusing on several initiatives in 2010 to help improve the quality of life for residents of all ages.

CTCF, formed in 1998 by a group of local citizens, offers support, guidance, grants and resources to area nonprofits that need assistance in all aspects of running a nonprofit organization. Additionally, CTCF works hard to provide grant funding to these organizations. To date, CTCF has issued more than 100 grants to organizations throughout Williamson County.

Seeds of Strength

CTCF is working on a new round of grant awards this spring as part of Seeds of Strength, a program that provides funding and assistance to Georgetown-area organizations that address community needs. Members of the Seeds of Strength group —all females—pay annual dues of $1,000 each. With a combined total of $55,000 in dues gained within the last year, Seeds of Strength is preparing to issue four $10,000 grants and one $15,000 grant to local nonprofit organizations this June.

“It’s been an exceptional program for Chisholm Trail,” said Karen Cole, CTCF immediate past chairwoman.

“Our main goal was to allow women to feel the power of collaborative giving through these grants,” said Eugenia Koog, CTCF secretary and member of the board of directors. “Where one woman couldn’t do much with one gift, when you bring people together they have enormous impact on the community.”

Backpack Buddies

CTCF also works in conjunction with local churches on its Backpack Buddies program, which provides food to children in Georgetown elementary schools over the weekend.

“We’ve found that so many kids go hungry over the weekends,” Cole said. “With the help of some super volunteers and Chisholm Trail we now serve 290 students—mostly second graders—and we’re trying to expand that more and more.”

Backpack Buddies serves children that have been identified as not having a source of food from noon on Friday to breakfast on Monday and over the holidays, Koog said. Backpacks usually include canned meat, canned stews, noodles, juice boxes, healthy shakes, breakfast items, canned fruit and shelf-stable milk. According to CTCF, $65 provides food for one child every weekend for a year.

Legacy giving

When it comes to CTCF’s “bread and butter,” legacy giving is what is going to keep these programs and others up and running for years to come, Cole said.

“Legacy funding is what we’re really all about,” she said. “We try to encourage people to remember to leave the foundation in their wills. We have a lot of people who have named us in their wills, and thank goodness none of them have passed, but at some point this foundation will be a major force in Georgetown.”

Koog said she is constantly astounded at the willingness Georgetown residents show when serving their neighbors.

“This is not a lazy town,” Koog said. “I’ve only been here for three years, and to see a town the size of Georgetown with so many people really being aggressive about seeking out unmet needs and designing programs to meet them … I’ve felt so proud. It’s a very incredibly generous philanthropic town on so many levels.”