The WOW and Star awards given annually by the Hopkins Foundation will continue this spring, despite an economy that forced the foundation to end its substantial support to Camp Alexander.
Michelle Molinaro, granddaughter the foundation’s founders, E.L. and Z. Irene Hopkins, said that school teachers and staff in the Emporia district will continue to receive the awards, which range in value from $1,000 to $5,000. The awards are given to district staff who go “above and beyond” the expectations of annual evaluations.
Nominations for the awards will be accepted until March 11. Forms are available at all Emporia public schools and Mary Herbert Education Center, 1700 W. Seventh Ave., and on the district’s website at www.usd253.org. For further information, contact Kristy Turner at 341-2201 or kturner@usd253.org.
The foundation has donated about $312,000 during the past eight years to fund the awards.
Since the drop in value of investments, however, the foundation board has decided it has no choice but to end its significant contributions to Camp Alexander, a youth camp located east of Emporia. Announcement of the change was made last month.
Camp Alexander’s executive director, Sara Shaw, resigned shortly before the announcement to accept a similar position at a camp near Council Grove.
Molinaro said the funding change was coincidental to the resignation of Shaw, who is the daughter of the foundation’s attorney, Tom Krueger.
“Unfortunately, it’s so unbelievably coincidental,” Molinaro said. “It has absolutely nothing to do with that (relationship). It happens to be, as you know, that the economy is awful right now.”
Shaw sent over a request for funding for Camp Alexander before she knew she was leaving that position, Molinaro said.
“And we weren’t going to fund it then,” Molinaro said. “As far as I’m concerned, I’m happy that we have any money to give away this year.”
The foundation tries to spend interest or dividends only when it dispenses its funds. When returns are down, donations follow that pattern.
“We are dependent, unfortunately, on the market,” Molinaro said. “When the market goes down, so does the money. It’s literally down more than 50 percent. ...
“It’s not that we’re choosing one over the other, but my grandfather’s main passion above and beyond anything was teachers. It was teachers and children.”
Her grandfather, the late E.L. Hopkins, believed that teachers were underpaid for their work, and he also believed in providing something to underprivileged children.
“That’s why we also give to camps,” she said. “When it comes down to having to be conservative and choosy, for lack of a better word, we chose the teachers awards because that truly would be his big thing.”
The Hopkins Foundation is not alone in trimming back its charitable donations.
Emporia State University and the Flint Hills Technical College already have said that the deepening recession has affected their foundations, both through drops in investment returns and in donations from the public.
The Trusler Foundation, long a major contributor to economic development and education projects, already is thinking about next year’s donations.
“For the moment, we’ve already committed heavy enough,” said Trusler secretary-treasurer Tom Thomas. “We won’t be able to cut back much. But we definitely have to look at next year and the year after.”
The situation is not as bleak at the Jones Foundation, which was set up to provide for the education and medical needs of children under the age of 21 in Lyon, Coffey, and Osage counties. The foundation also has monies for postsecondary education for residents of the three counties, regardless of their ages, executive director Sharon Tidwell said.
Economic changes may affect donations from the Jones Trust Fund, which finances “bricks-and-mortar” projects and has paid for parks in all of the communities in the three counties.
Jim Mueth, Bank of America representative who administers the trust, was out of the office until Monday and unable to provide details about the trust’s plans.
The trust also finances the Jones Foundation, which is the key part of the Jones family’s wills.
“The way that it is set up is that the Jones Foundation would not suffer as far as funding,” Tidwell said.
If the Jones Trust had to scale back because of the economy, the needs of the children would be covered first and the bricks-and-mortar projects would be secondary.
“When it comes to the Jones brothers and carrying out the wills, Jones Foundation is paramount,” Tidwell said. “If there were to be any type of funding cuts it would happen on the trust side.”
The Emporia Community Foundation could not be reached for comment before press time.