As I reflect on the actions the McCook Community Foundation Fund has taken this past year, I feel a little giddy. We think this will be McCook's decade and McCook residents are making it happen. 

We are effective as a catalyst for change because of the generous and committed donors to MCFF and the relationships MCFF has fostered over the past two decades. Together, we can support, engage, and spark change to build a welcoming community. 

This past year, we have promoted community connections and inclusion through continued support for the Buffalo Commons Storytelling and Music Festival, youth engagement opportunities, the Nebraska Chautauqua in McCook, along with numerous gatherings supporting our donors and community-wide efforts.

We continue to promote prosperity in our community by helping with a digital marquee for our beloved Fox Theater. We partnered with pickleball enthusiasts in renovating and updating McCook’s outdoor pickleball courts. By helping fund our YMCA's feasibility study as they move forward with a research-based renovation, we believe they will be better able to serve our community's needs for active and more healthy opportunities. And we have supported the development of a Creative Arts District that will highlight existing arts and foster new opportunities to create art in McCook.

MCFF’s youth group, Youth Change Reaction, took on an epic project this year, fundraising to provide a drive-in movie experience called “Cars Under the Stars.” During the summer months, this group of high school students led our community in fundraising, building valuable relationships along the way. McCook should be proud of these young citizens. When the project is complete, they will be providing McCook's residents with a previously unavailable entertainment experience.

And MCFF is also working to remove barriers. The Fund’s Advisory Committee voted to cover the cost of admittance fees for all individuals using McCook’s new outdoor pool the first year it is open. To prepare for the new pool as well as helping the YMCA pool, MCFF is covering the cost of training lifeguards.

But none of the above would have been possible without the support of the community. We know we are only as strong as we are together and our community-mindedness extends to all southwest Nebraska. Without the community’s support, including financial donations to the McCook Community Foundation Fund, none of this would have been possible. When you donate to the unrestricted endowment, those funds never leave our community. Those dollars stay in our fund forever as we only spend the interest generated by your donation.   

Donations can be made anytime using our website, mccookfoundation.org, or by contacting one of our members. A full list of grants made by MCFF can always be found on the website. And fund advisory committee members are always up for a cup of coffee to learn more about what each of us wants to see happen to make our community an even better place to call home.

If we want to make this McCook's decade, then we need your continued partnership. We appreciate and value our community members, past and present. After all, once you've been a part of this community, it will always be a part of your heart. 

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Cindy Huff is chairperson of the McCook Community Foundation Fund and had a passion for her community, gardening and her grandchildren.