Laclede County Showed Up: Community Cares Day of Giving Raises $81,000

Laclede County Showed Up: Community Cares Day of Giving Raises $81,000

LEBANON, Mo. — If you drove through Lebanon Wednesday, you might have handed a few dollars to Santa Claus.

Or Patrick Star.

Maybe it was a chicken, a giant heart or someone dressed as a traffic cone.

Behind the costumes, buckets and signs were 75 volunteers who spent the day standing along Lebanon streets for one reason: Community Cares needed the community.

And the community showed up.

By the end of this year’s Community Cares Day of Giving campaign, $81,000 had been raised to support nonprofit organizations serving people right here in Laclede County.

That number was especially important this year.

Community Cares, a nonprofit organization under the Lebanon Area Foundation, has traditionally received part of its funding through payroll deductions at participating businesses. Layoffs and other employment changes have caused those contributions to decline.

Last year, the Day of Giving raised approximately $56,000, and Community Cares distributed $150,000 in grants during the year.

This year, we knew there was a hole to fill.

To continue providing that same level of support to local nonprofits, Community Cares needed to raise approximately $80,000.

Wednesday night, the total stood at $81,000.

More Than One Day

That $81,000 didn’t happen in a few hours at Lebanon intersections.

This year, Community Cares put together a much more robust campaign. Previous donors were contacted. Local businesses got involved. Volunteers helped spread the word. Donations came in throughout the campaign.

Lebanon Now partnered with the Lebanon Area Foundation and Community Cares to help bring the Day of Giving to the community.

Then Wednesday came, and it was time to take it to the streets.

Seventy-five volunteers showed up.

Board members were there. Community members were there. Dr. Kent Richter and Bruce Owen were there. People gave their time before work, after work and throughout the day.

And apparently someone decided regular clothes weren’t enough.

There were chickens waving at traffic.

There was Patrick Star.

There were people dressed as traffic cones.

There was Santa Claus, a couple of months early.

And there were hearts.

Lots of hearts.

The costumes were funny, and they were supposed to be. They got people looking, smiling and hopefully reaching for a dollar or two.

But there was something fitting about seeing giant hearts standing along the streets of Lebanon Wednesday.

Because this entire thing works on heart.

Penny Drive Brings Local Students Into the Day of Giving

Some of the smallest hands in Laclede County also helped push Community Cares toward that $81,000 total.

Students from Esther Elementary, Boswell Elementary, Maplecrest Elementary, Cross Christian School and Joel E. Barber participated in this year’s Community Cares Penny Drive, collecting change to help support the nonprofit organizations serving their community.

And they didn’t just send in their pennies.

Students from each of the participating schools joined us during the Day of Giving broadcast, where they got the chance to talk about their penny drives, represent their schools and be part of the day themselves.

It was another piece of what made this year’s campaign so special. While adults were standing on street corners collecting dollars, kids across Laclede County had already been filling containers with pennies, nickels, dimes and quarters.

Those coins joined the dollars collected on the streets, donations from businesses and contributions from individuals to help bring Community Cares to its final $81,000 raised.

They may have called it a Penny Drive, but those pennies added up.

And more importantly, hundreds of local kids got to see firsthand what can happen when an entire community gives a little bit together.

Paper Hearts Add Nearly $5,000 to Community Cares Total

For weeks leading up to the Day of Giving, little paper hearts started appearing all over Lebanon.

Businesses including Jude’s Coffee Company, Page Printing, Page Office Supply and Elm Street Eatery, along with many other locations around town, gave customers the opportunity to purchase a Community Cares paper heart and add their name to the growing displays.

One dollar at a time, those hearts added up.

By the end of the campaign, nearly $5,000 had been raised through paper heart sales alone, helping push Community Cares toward its final $81,000 total.

The walls and windows covered in hearts became a visible reminder of just how many people were part of this year’s effort. You didn’t have to write a big check or stand on a street corner to make a difference. You could buy a $1 heart while grabbing coffee, eating lunch or stopping into a local business.

Thousands of those little hearts eventually became thousands of dollars for Laclede County nonprofits.

A dollar. A paper heart. A whole lot of community.

Neighbors Helping Neighbors

Community Cares serves approximately 30 nonprofit organizations through its grant program.

Those organizations don’t all do the same thing.

Some feed people.

Some work with children.

Some help seniors.

Some provide clothing, transportation, housing assistance or emergency help.

Some serve people during one of the worst days of their lives.

Community Cares brings all of those different missions together by raising money locally and then awarding grants to organizations doing the work throughout Laclede County.

Every penny stays here.

That’s the part of Community Cares that matters so much.

The dollar handed through a car window Wednesday stays in Laclede County.

So does the $5 bill.

So does the $20.

So does the check from a local business or the contribution from someone who has supported Community Cares for years.

It all comes together, and then it goes back out into our community through organizations serving our neighbors.

The organizations currently receiving support can be found on the ⁠Community Cares Grant Recipients page.

The People Behind the Work

Community Cares is co-chaired by Kim Roecker and Ryan Sherrer and operates under the Lebanon Area Foundation.

The Lebanon Area Foundation Board of Directors includes Jared Gottman, Kim Roecker, Dr. Rachelle Jennings, Dr. Brad Armstrong, Donti Hawkins, Dr. Dusty Childress, Angie Carr, Becki Carr, Kristy Carr, Joy Davis, Bob Fields, Jase Glendenning, Sue Lewis, Travis Long, LeAnn Mather, Jason Purcell, Dr. David Schmitz, Ryan Sherrer and Jessie Williams.

Foundation staff includes Melinda Fries and Nicole Dautenhahn.

Those names matter because Community Cares doesn’t happen by itself.

Neither does a Day of Giving.

Behind Wednesday were weeks of planning, phone calls, organizing volunteers, contacting donors, working with businesses, promoting the campaign and trying to close a funding gap that could ultimately have affected dozens of organizations across Laclede County.

Then came the part everyone could see.

Seventy-five volunteers standing on the streets.

Some wore Community Cares shirts.

Some held buckets.

Some held signs.

Some dressed like chickens.

Some dressed like traffic cones.

One dressed like Patrick Star.

Santa showed up.

And right in the middle of all of it were those hearts.

For hours, people driving through Lebanon rolled down their windows and gave.

A dollar here. Five dollars there. Twenty dollars in another bucket.

One person at a time.

One car at a time.

One donation at a time.

Last year’s Day of Giving raised $56,000.

This year, we needed $80,000.

Together, Laclede County raised $81,000.

The costumes made people smile.

The volunteers made it possible.

The community made it count.

And now that money gets to do exactly what Community Cares was created to do:

Stay home and help our neighbors.

More information about Community Cares and the Lebanon Area Foundation is available through ⁠Lebanon Area Foundation and Community Cares.