September 2007
The Allegany County Area Foundation is growing; we are touching more people in our county every year. I am so proud to be affiliated with this organization, which is having a positive impact on our rural area. Bob Christian, our Executive Director, has done a remarkable job of getting the word out that the ACAF is OUR community foundation, that it serves to make Allegany County a better place - now and for the future. The ACAF enables our non-profit agencies and community organizations to dream their dreams and help make them a reality. We are pleased with the opportunity to meet so many of you at the Chamber of Commerce Business After Hours in Cuba and Wellsville, the Allegany County Fair, the Garlic Festival and at other community events.
Scholarships were our initial gift to the community, and they continue to comprise the largest portion of the funds we administer. This past year we awarded 129 scholarships, for a total of $173,000. In all, the ACAF will award $219,500 for the 2007-2008 school year. Some of these awards are matched by the Dollars for Scholars Organization, doubling the amount received by the student. These scholarships make a real difference in the lives of county young people, perhaps permitting them to select a college they otherwise could not afford. College education has become both more essential to success and more difficult to pay for. We offer YOU the opportunity to help our youth obtain that education. We hope that many of them will return to live and work in Allegany County.
This year we offer three new scholarships. The Edward Brewster scholarship benefits Whitesville students, the Non-Traditional Scholarships targets students who are seeking certification and job skills, and the Dresser-Rand Scholarship benefits employees and children of the Dresser-Rand Corp. in Wellsville. We invite others - individuals or families, communities, businesses, unions or similar groups - to establish new scholarship funds. These can target a school district, a field of study, or even a level of education. Many students begin their education in two-year colleges to save costs; many others go on to graduate degrees. For students in both categories we have few scholarship dollars. Trade school is yet another choice that high school graduates have.
Our Educator of the Year Banquet celebrates the professionals who turn students into life-long learners. We honor our educators and celebrate our scholarship recipients at this annual event. Many local businesses have come forward to help us host this wonderful event. We have a new endowment fund to enable us to eventually finance this worthwhile program in perpetuity.
Non-profit organizations and their supporters work with the ACAF in long-term planning. The restricted funds we invest permit community supporters to put away dollars in perpetuity for their local non-profit; the earnings meet yearly expenses, while the principal is protected as a nest egg for the future. Think about which vital community organization needs your support?
I encourage others to consider contributing to the Allegany County Fund to help cover future unmet financial needs of the community. Individuals can remember the ACAF in their will, give a gift of appreciated assets, hold a fundraising event, set up a fund, or invite us in to talk to their community organization about how YOUR foundation can make Allegany County a better place. Call us; we’ll come!
Leslie J. Haggstrom,
President
Allegany County Area Foundation
May 2007
On behalf of the Board of Directors of the Allegany County Area Foundation, I am proud to welcome you to the 9th Annual Allegany County Area Foundation Educator of the Year banquet. We are so glad you could join us today to celebrate with the ten Educator of the Year nominees, their friends and families, and with the dozens of scholarship winners and their parents. What an honor it is to publicly recognize these excellent educators and exceptional scholars who represent the best of the best in Allegany County schools! May we take this opportunity to express our sincere appreciation to the parents, co-workers, school board members and administrators who make it possible for teachers to teach and students to learn.
The Allegany County Area Foundation was organized in 1983 as a not-for-profit community foundation. The dream of its founders was to guarantee that Allegany County residents would always have a way to help fulfill their dreams of college educations and projects that would benefit their neighbors. Donors have the opportunity to designate funds for student scholarships, for specific organizations, or for unforeseen future projects. Several recent gifts have established new scholarship funds for non-traditional students to gain valuable training, for employees and family members of Dresser-Rand in Wellsville, and for Whitesville Central School graduates.
Do you have a dream, a goal or a project in mind that would improve the quality of life here in Allegany County? Because others before you have given to the Foundation, there are resources available today. In the 2006/07 school year the Foundation will have available over $200,000 in annual scholarships for county students! A need expressed by many is the lack of assistance for graduate students; we hope donors will step forward to meet this challenge. Perhaps you are able to make a donation now or in the future, as Edward and Pauline Brewster of Whitesville did. It was their wish to establish a scholarship fund that would help young people from Whitesville to achieve their educational goals. Ruth Kohman of Wellsville remembered the Foundation in her estate so that funding would be available to assist with projects helping people and organizations throughout the county. I challenge you to think ahead and make a difference by “Leaving a Legacy” right here in your home county.
To all of you who have supported the Foundation, and to those who will in the future, on behalf of those receiving these awards and scholarships tonight, I THANK YOU!
Leslie J. Haggstrom, President Allegany County Area Foundation, Inc.
May 2006
The Allegany County Area Foundation is celebrating...celebrating the past, and working hard to enrich the future of our county. We offer opportunities to put dollars away today, so that tomorrow's needs may be met. It is impossible to predict what those needs may be...the dreams have not yet been dreamed!
We are your community foundation. We are proud of the work we are doing, our ability to help support new programs, and the charitable activities conducted by the organizations who have invested funds with us. Those organizations include the SPCA, Scio Memorial Library, the Andover Free Library and Cuba Memorial Hospital. For those of you who already have funds at the Foundation, thank you for your participation. You continue to do a good thing. For those of you who haven't yet partnered with us, we are eager to welcome you and assist in programs you can be proud of. Together, we can all make a lasting contribution to our community.
This year we have awarded 124 scholarships to county residents, totaling $155,000. Imagine the impact those scholarship dollars have on those students! We now partner with Dollars for Scholars, which often doubles the scholarships we grant. The Foundation is always looking for new scholarship funds; some school districts have less available than others. Also, there is a real need to help students attending two-year or trade schools, graduate programs and adults returning for further education. You can help make it possible. Many of these students return to Allegany County and enrich our lives.
The Educator of the Year banquet is our annual celebration of the best educators and the best students. This year our guest speaker was Paul Ronan, a four-year scholarship recipient who inspired us by describing his volunteer work in Africa. We were all impressed and grateful that we helped make his education possible.
Grants totaling $6900 have been awarded this year. We contributed toward the Bi-Centennial time capsule, joining in the celebration of Allegany County's 200 years. Our start-up monies helped make the Allegany County History book, edited by Craig Braack, possible. It is a wonderful book and we are proud of it. Our grants benefited local youth in other ways: we supported the Youth Compeer Program, the Outdoor Education Center and the Youth Court. Seed money enabled the start-up of Genesee Valley's Alternative Education Program. Our support of the Houghton College Urban and Rural Teacher Corps provided support for intensive tutoring of at-risk youth.
We are grateful to all the local newspapers and radio stations for their eagerness to run articles and publicize information about our activities which has helped to inform and encourage the participation of local donors. The Foundation is enjoying new and increased visibility and we hope that more and more donors look to the Foundation as their vehicle to improve the quality of life in our community.
A community foundation is only as successful as the people in the community who support or are supported by it. Our rural area is blessed with people willing to volunteer their time to make the world a better place, and each of our board members is such a volunteer. We have only two part-time paid staff who enable the work that is being done: Bob Christian, our Executive Director, and Patty Oliver, our secretary. They help make it all possible.
We are your community foundation in Allegany County!
Leslie Haggstrom, President
Summer 2005
A Letter from President Leslie J. Haggstrom
What an exciting year for the Allegany County Area Foundation! I am so proud to be affiliated with this organization because of the positive impact it is having on our rural community.
Bob Christian, our Director of Development, has done a remarkable job of getting the word out that the ACAF is OUR community foundation…that it serves to make Allegany County a better place. The ACAF enables our non-profit agencies and community organizations to dream their dreams…and make them a reality. We are pleased with the opportunity to meet so many of you at the Chamber of Commerce Business-After-Hours, the Allegany County Fair, the Wellsville Balloon Rally, and other events.
Scholarships were our initial gift to the community, and they continue to comprise the largest portion of the funds we administer. This year we gave out 39 new scholarships and continued with 107 more. The new $1.2 million Louisa A. Sibley Scholarship Fund enabled us to give an additional $15,000 in scholarships. These funds make a real difference in the lives of county students, permitting some to select a college they did not believe they could attend. Many will return to live and work in Allegany County.
There is more work to be done, especially procuring scholarships for students choosing higher education in two-year colleges and in graduate schools. We invite you—individuals, families, communities, businesses, unions, other groups—to establish new scholarship funds. These can target a school district, a field of study, or even a level of education.
The Educator of the Year Dinner is our way of honoring our educators and celebrating the new scholarship recipients. Many local businesses have come forward to help support this, but an endowment fund is needed to improve this wonderful program.
The SPCA, Scio Free Library, and Andover Public Library have set up funds with the ACAF for long-term planning. The earnings, enhanced by investment with the Foundation, are used to meet yearly expenses, while the principal is protected as a nest-egg for the future.
I encourage others to remember the Foundation in their will and to support our fund-raising activities. We would be glad to come speak with you or your group about how YOUR community foundation can make Allegany County a better place. Call now!
Leslie J. Haggstrom
