ROBERT PIERCE
• Leader & Times
The Meade County Community Foundation recently distributed funds from its winter cycle, and although funding was a little lower than usual, Director Cheyenne Federau said the cycle still turned out well.
“We had 25 applications, and they requested $78,000,” she said. “We had a pretty good response. Out of that, we had $15,000, $16,000 we budget for grant cycles.”
Not everyone who applies can be funded, but Federau said with this cycle, turning down applications was a little harder than in the past.
“Usually, we can partially fund everybody or do it a different way, and we just weren’t able to do that this time,” she said. “We had to make some cuts.”
For this cycle, Federau said one of the bigger funded projects was for some remodel work at the Fowler Senior Center.
“They have these one-key metal doors, and I am not sure who thought to put those into the senior center,” she said. “The senior center’s not that old. It was probably built in the mid-2000s. These doors are not ADA accessible period. They’re not accessible for elderly people who are using walkers, canes, wheelchairs or little ones.”
The senior center received $2,000 to help get new front doors and make them ADA accessible. Federau said this was a huge need.
“The senior center in Fowler is not just a senior center,” she said. “It’s the main community event center. It’s used by all kinds of people, and it’s used every day. That’s a definite need we’re pretty excited we were able to help out with.”
Another big funded project came from the Meade Public Library for its story walk at Meade City Park.
“It’s super cool,” Federau said. “There’s 12 to 15 pages of a book. You can walk around with your kids, and they can read the book.”
With little to no means to replace the current story, the same story has been in place for about three years. Library officials got $2,000 from MCCF to help put a different cover in place and to interchange books at the park.
The foundation was started in 2019, and after the winter grant cycle, more than $92,000 has been distributed to local organizations to date. Federau said excitement is building as the $100,000 mark draws near.
“That’s a huge milestone for us,” she said. “It shows how much of an impact we’ve been able to make in a short amount of time with our momentum, and we hope it keeps snowballing.”
Federau said the work MCCF does to help non-profits and the work of the non-profits themselves is critical.
“We want to make sure when they have a gap, we can fill it,” she said. “Most of the time, if it’s a real need, we’re able to fill it. There were some that were more wants. They would’ve been great, but we had to be a little more choosy this cycle.”
Some of the recent funding also went to Plains Elementary School for the purchase of exercise ball for its physical education classes.
“She went through training evidently and learned how to use them, but she also wanted the curriculum with them, which I thought was really neat,” Federau said of the Plains PE teacher. “I used to be a teacher, and I taught an elective as well. A lot of times, people think with electives, the kids run around and it’s not structured, but the structure she had and the way she wrote that grant,”
Still more funding went to Southwestern Heights Junior High’s Ignite program, which promotes health and wellness.
“They worked through the whole school district, but they have laser tag sets they use at their events,” Federau said. “She wanted us to replace one of their sets because they’re getting old. That, I thought, was super cool.”
Federau became director of MCCF in May 2024, and she said the foundation’s sustainability has grown substantially since then.
“We had gotten to the point where we were not using as much as we are now, but we didn’t have anything sustained,” she said. “Our sustainablity was at a zero level, and our sustainability has grown significantly.”
Federau said many people see money a foundation brings in and believe it is all given out.
“We have to be good stewards of that and make sure we’re investing that, putting that aside in those endowment accounts so we can continue to grow,” she said. “It’s really nice because we have a lot more leeway.”
Federau said foundation officials now have the capability to meet needs huge or small.
“We also did not have an operation budget before,” she said. “We’ve grown a lot. Our capacity has changed. It’s different.”
Federau said just as the foundation’s sustainability has grown since she became director, so too have its endowment funds.
“We had zero dollars invested in May 2025,” she said. “Now, we have more than $130,000. It’s $138,000 we have endowed through a couple of different funds, but that’s all money that’s going to stay there. It’ll be there forever, and it’ll just keep growing.”
Those funds do not include the money MCCF has in spendable accounts, and Federau said the fact the foundation’s endowment went from zero to nearly $140,000 in the course of 12 months is both exciting and amazing.
“We’re growing, and we’re going to be around for a long time,” she said.
Among the grants the foundation gives out are continuing grants.
“One we’ve done several times we did again was flowers for the Meade Chamber,” Federau said. “They just put flowers on Main Street in the business district. It’s not something you can really put a price on, but it sure makes it a pretty and inviting environment.”
Another continuing fund is at Meade’s Beam Senior Center, where a TV was purchased through the center’s senior enrichment program.
“They have wanted a TV so they could do different kinds of games on there, different kinds of exercise videos, but one I thought was neat we don’t think about a lot is they want to stream the ballgames in there,” Federau said. “The seniors love to watch that, but they can’t get into the stands and go watch the games. The meaning for them to still be able to gather and support the kids in a way that’s safe and accessible for them, that’s really neat.”
As far as how much of an impact MCCF’s funding has, Federau said this is something that is difficult to give an amount.
“It just keeps growing,” she said. “With things like that, that’s a one-time grant we’re not going to have to fund again, but one that will be reoccurring one was our food bank. They used to not have to pay utilities, and they recently had to move facilities. Now, they have to pay rent, utilities, Internet. That was something we were able to help out with as part of this cycle that we hadn’t had to in the past, and that’s going to be a reoccurring expense for them. If it wasn’t for us, I’m sure they’d raise the money, but they might have a gap somewhere else.”
Federau said turning funding down for organizations is difficult, but MCCF officials do find other resources to help with those needs.
“It was really exciting with the things we were able to fund that were some of the bigger needs the board felt needed to be funded,” she said. “I was excited. It’s always fun to read through the applications and see the things people are wanting to do.”
Through all of the funding that has been done and all that is to come, Federau said there are many good things happening because of the work of MCCF.
“Sometimes, it’s easy to forget that, but there really are a lot of good things that are happening in our part of the world,” she said.
