$500,000 Donated to MCFF Unrestricted Endowment
Local leaders making local decisions has led a former McCook resident to make a very generous financial gift to the community.
Former McCook Gazette owner and publisher Allen Strunk has donated $500,000 to the McCook Community Foundation Fund’s unrestricted endowment account.
Now a resident of Las Vegas, Nevada, Strunk and his wife, Linda, were in McCook at the beginning of August for his great-grandson Austin Kreutzer’s high school graduation. While here, he shared his reason to make the donation to MCFF, along with a few other thoughts about the future of the community.
Strunk said he had the opportunity to make the donation to a statewide or even a national organization, of which he supports several. But in the end, he wanted the funds and the decisions to remain local and felt the MCFF unrestricted endowment was the best avenue to achieve that goal.
“McCook has great leaders right now,” Strunk said, citing specifically Mark Graff and Matt Sehnert, the former who is a founding member of the Fund while the latter is the most recent addition to the Fund’s Advisory Committee.
“McCook lost a lot of leadership after WWII with many successful leaders moving away for a period of time,” Strunk said. “But there are leaders in place today who can keep McCook headed in the right direction.”
As for the younger leaders coming up through the ranks, Strunk feels they can change the direction of America but that they need to make sure it is done right, which falls right in line with the motto of his father and founder of the McCook Gazette, Harry Strunk.
During his recent visit to McCook, Allen Strunk gave a history of the Gazette founded by his father in 1911 with the slogan, "Service Is The Rent We Pay For The Space We Occupy In This World.”
Thirteen years later, under Strunk's editorship, it became a daily and changed its name to the McCook Daily Gazette. Strunk published the Gazette until his death in 1960, when he was succeeded by his son, Allen.
Under Allen’s leadership, the newspaper made the conversion from letterpress to offset printing in its new building in 1966.
In 1986, the paper was acquired by Gozia-Driver Media, which was later re-incorporated as US Media Group. In 1997, the Gazette was sold to Rust Communications and continues its nearly 110-year history today as the McCook Gazette.
As these new funds are contributed to MCFF including the $500,000 donation from Strunk, MCFF will continue to encourage local organizations to “Dream Big,” especially when it comes to education, a passion of Strunks.
MCFF Chairperson Cindy Huff and committee member Gavin Harsh attended the September McCook School Board meeting to recap the nearly $100,000 in grants given to the school so far this year including special COVID projects. They also stressed that MCFF and the school can be stronger by working together, especially on special programs.
MCFF’s unrestricted endowment account is a permanent account, whose assets are invested to generate an ongoing source of income year after year. Investment earnings from the endowment are used to support community improvements and programs.
The Fund Advisory Committee is made up of 12 local volunteer community leaders, who determine how the money generated from the endowment will be used to benefit the community now and in the future.
The income from MCFF”s unrestricted endowment now provides more than $100,000 each year, available through community grants. Just a few of the grants provided this past year include improvements at the McCook YMCA and Hillcrest Nursing Home, support of the Hormel Business Competition at McCook Community College and many local events and programs.
Thanks to Allen Strunk’s financial gift, MCFF’s endowment - as well as the grant capacity and grants to the community - will continue to grow year after year. Strunk understood that the endowment will continue giving back to McCook and Southwest Nebraska forever with a gift which will have a broad impact across the community, making an impact for generations.
MCFF Treasurer Mark Graff said the gift from Allen Strunk reaffirms the Strunk family’s commitment to the McCook area.
“It further solidifies the Strunk family legacy of positively touching lives of those that call McCook and all of southwest Nebraska and northwest Kansas home,” Graff said.
For more information about the McCook Community Foundation Fund or a complete list of grants given by MCFF since its inception nearly 20 years ago, please visit the MCFF website at mccookfoundation.org.
McCook Community Foundation Fund is an affiliated fund of the Nebraska Community Foundation.
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Building Connections in McCook Matters June in McCook will be abuzz with fun events including a Youth Summit, hosted by McCook Community Foundation Fund. Our young people in Youth Change Reaction will host the first Nebraska Community Foundation gathering for youth, which will bring youth from across Nebraska to McCook. While still in the planning stages, our students identified that McCook is great because of connections . Our young people easily recognize how critical this factor is to people attraction, to people retention, and to improve their futures. What I miss most about my high school classroom is connections with students and colleagues. In education, I taught first, second, and sometimes third generations in families. My husband, Greg, and I are not McCook natives, but I eventually knew who was related to whom and usually where the parent(s) were employed. Going to the grocery store meant greetings from students and sometimes their family members. I officially retired from my high school classroom nine years ago in May. When you retire, the most-asked question becomes “What do you do with your time?” I try to maintain those connections and make new ones by belonging. For the past seven years, Sharon Bohling and I have volunteered to help plan and organize Bison Days for our high school students, which took place February 10 and 11. It would not happen without the financial support of McCook Community Foundation Fund, plus the McCook High School, local businesses, and the talented people of Southwest Nebraska who say “yes” when one of us reaches out to ask for the donation of time and talent. I would venture that they allow us to be on the Bison Days’ committee because we both have connections within our community—it’s certainly not our computer savvy. Connections can also solve a problem. Recently, I signed up to help a local family in crisis. My morning plan revolved around delivering my donation at a designated drop-off place. That didn’t work out. Fortunately, I still work with youth in various capacities, so I know that Keri Wilkinson works for Camy Bradley. Keri was an organizer for the family fundraiser, so I walked in Camy’s office hoping to find Keri. She was not there, so Camy and I visited briefly. She knew someone (who I did not know) who could possibly give me further direction. Only in a town with connections are you able to interrupt someone’s business, have her reach out for you using her connections , and offer to keep the donations for me until Keri’s return. Another great example of connecting can be found over coffee. Dee Friehe and I are longtime teacher friends. During a chance meeting at the grocery store a few weeks ago, she shared how she was there following a funeral service and was gathering supplies to deliver supper to the grieving family that night. She also updated me on her group of adults who meet for coffee on Thursdays at Ember’s, which varies from 8-28 depending on the day. She recognized the need for adults moving to McCook or folks just wanting to get out to make connections . Dee’s husband, Mark, also hosts his own group of men who are new(er) to McCook. She regaled me with stories of their Christmas party and other special gatherings. Wanting to call McCook your home is solidified by building connections . Ronda Graff has written about McCook Connects which matches a McCook person with someone new to the community of similar interests. I earned my McCook Connects’ T-shirt welcoming a young family with children. We have since spent many hot summer days sitting on bleachers together cheering on our 4-H horse kids while they show their horses. Warning: I connected them with a “free” new-to-them horse. Be careful connecting with me or you’ll probably own a horse. You do not have to be retired to connect in this community. Volunteering is a surefire way to meet people. McCook has many civic groups looking for new faces. Attend a church here; we have many welcoming congregations. Go to ball games or school concerts, attend concerts in the park, learn a new skill through the college, show up at a Third Thursday event or invite the neighbors for a BBQ. Take your youngsters to story hour or Move and Groove at the library. Go watch an event at the Kiplinger Arena. You can even take it a step further: Make a friend or call a friend and invite him/her to go with you. It is human connection that keeps us healthy and happy. If McCook Community Foundation Fund can help you connect in some meaningful way, please reach out for advice or support. *** While Pam Wolford may be retired, she is just as busy serving on the McCook Community Foundation Fund committee and started a new Learn and Return Scholarship with MCFF, while stepping up to grandparent whenever the call comes in.
