April 19, 2022
Grants support improvements for facilities and meal preparation
The Community Foundation of the Ozarks and the Louis L. and Julia Dorothy Coover Charitable Foundation presented grants to 18 agencies that operate senior centers in rural communities. Grants totaling $261,777 from the Coover Regional Senior Center Support Grant Program were presented to:
- Alton Multipurpose Senior Center: $25,000 to repair and replace flooring throughout the center;
- Butler County Council on Aging: $14,538 to support the purchase of a pallet jack and kitchen appliances for the center in Poplar Bluff;
- Cabool Senior Center: $8,561 to purchase higher-quality seating, add a security system and improve the welcome area;
- Care Connection for Aging Services: $25,000 to purchase a blast freezer for the production of frozen meals for 21 senior centers in west-central Missouri;
- Cassville Senior Center: $13,571 to support outdoor improvements at the center;
- Dade County Senior Citizen Center: $20,000 to replace flooring throughout the center in Greenfield;
- Douglas County Council on Aging: $11,777 to support kitchen upgrades, including a new oven and range, for the center in Ava;
- Fun and Friends Senior Center: $12,038 to replace the tile and carpeted areas at the center in Thayer;
- Marshfield Senior Center: $2,300 to improve the lower level of the center with new lighting and improved storage;
- Naylor Nutrition Center: $14,303 to upgrade the kitchen with new equipment;
- Owensville Senior Center: $14,656 to improve the center’s restroom facilities and parking lot;
- Ozark Senior Center: $14,422 to purchase a new water heater, entry doors and phone system;
- Polk County Senior Center: $13,195 to replace a broken freezer and to purchase a new steam table and proofer for the center in Bolivar;
- Ripley County Senior Citizens Club: $24,800 to support the purchase of two used vans for meal-delivery services in Doniphan;
- Salem Nutrition Center: $14,420 to purchase and install a walk-in refrigerator;
- Waynesville/St. Robert Senior Center: $4,725 to repair the center’s air conditioning system;
- Williamsville Area Association of Senior Citizens: $24,471 to upgrade the center’s kitchen equipment; and
- Willow Springs Senior Center: $4,000 to replace the center’s tile floor.
Representatives from many of the agencies that received Coover Regional Senior Center Support Grants attended the presentation at the Commerce Trust Company office in Springfield.
The grants were presented during an April 19 ceremony at Commerce Trust Company in Springfield. The CFO administers grantmaking for the Coover Charitable Foundation, which is managed by Commerce Trust Company.
This year, the annual Coover Regional grant program focused on proposals to improve senior centers after the COVID-19 pandemic led many to close for significant periods of time or drastically shift their services. That left the centers with deferred maintenance and ongoing changes to the way they provide services and respond to needs.
“Grantmaking from the Louis L. and Julia Dorothy Coover Charitable Foundation is intentionally flexible to meet the emerging needs of our region,” said Jill Reynolds, senior vice president at Commerce Trust Company. “By serving as a social hub and offering nutritious meals, senior centers play such an important role in rural communities. We’re so glad to help these centers better serve the people who depend on them.”
Julia Dorothy Coover, a 30-year Commerce employee, founded the Louis L. and Julia Dorothy Coover Charitable Foundation in 1992 to honor her husband’s memory. Since then, the Coover Charitable Foundation has awarded more than $7 million in grants to nonprofit agencies and rural schools across the Ozarks.
