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The 13th annual Grant County Gives event is well under way, with the finale set for the beginning of November with Grant County Gives Week beginning Monday. The Ulysses city council heard from Grant County Community Foundation Executive Director Sabrina Gaddis and Mayor Tim McCauley read a proclamation declaring Nov. 3-10 as Grant County Gives Week in the City of Ulysses.
The Grant County Commission heard from Gaddis and also read the proclamation into the record Oct. 15.
“I will say it is a true pleasure to be back here in front of you again and this time the chicken ordinance is not after me, so I’m very excited about that,” Gaddis quipped before giving her presentation to the city council.
Gaddis said total match funds of $117,550 have been raised so far this year, with $70,000 from the Patterson Family Foundation for the second straight year.
“That’s pretty tremendous for our community,” Gaddis added.
A total of 58 local donors provided $47,550 to put towards the match fund. The total funds are prorated back to the 34 participating nonprofit organizations who have been raising funds since Sept. 1.
“All of the funds that they raise right now through events, raffles, private contributions, any of those memberships that they’re a membership type organization, any of that type of stuff all goes towards capturing a piece of that match fund money,” Gaddis said. “I guess the race is on to see who can raise the most money.”
The Grant County Gives Committee has set up some fundraising events including Roundup Month at Ace, where shoppers can round up their purchase and that percentage goes toward Grant County Gives, Tate’s Barbecue is giving a percentage of its sales Nov. 3, and El Ranchito is doing the same Nov. 6, and the weekend wraps up Nov. 10 with a fish fry at Bear Creek Coffee.”
Another Grant County Gives events include the Southwest Miracles Shindig Nov. 2 at the civic center with live music by Lendon James and a drawing for a 1987 Jeep IJ.
The Grant County Community Foundation began with a $250 donation and now it’s valued at more than $5.5 million in assets.
“So, a pretty significant climb n a fairly short amount of time,” Gaddis added.
The city has two funds with the Foundation including an endowed Substance Abuse Fund, and an endowed fund and a demand fund for the Animal shelter.
“We’ve been in talks with Sarah (Britton) about how we’re going to spend some of those funds this year for projects,” Gaddis said. “So we appreciate your support through the years not only through Grant County Gives but also the history of being a part of the foundation.”
The council did not have any questions for Gaddis, who added that since Grant County Gives began in 2012, $1,398,314.55 has been given back to the community.
“So, kudos to you as a community for what what you have done and what you started and what you are continuing to do here,” Gaddis said. “We are always open to starting new funds with the city of Ulysses.”
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