Kalamazoo mass shooting victims receive outpouring of community support | MLive.com

KALAMAZOO, MI In just 11 days, more than $100,000 has been donated on various internet GoFundMe sites to help the victims of Kalamazoo’s mass shootings with everything from paying medical bills and funeral expenses to whatever other needs arise.

A like amount has come into the collaborative community foundation effort, HelpNow, with more on the way from corporate donors, service clubs and individuals..

Add to that the proceeds of Tshirt sales, benefit events, and a variety of other fundraising efforts that are still in the works, or that haven’t even yet been determined, and it seems certain there’s community help available for the immediate needs of the victims. It also seems likely that funds will be available for the longer-term needs of a community shaken by the violence of a lone gunman killing six people and seriously injuring two more.

Each need is as unique as each gift, and distributing the money can sometimes be as challenging as collecting it, with a need for accounting transparency balanced with a need to shelter victims from unwelcome public attention.

Kalamazoo County Sheriff Robert Fuller has been designated the media spokesperson for the family of Tiana Carruthers, the gunman’s first victim, who is recovering from multiple gunshots. “People are taking care of Tiana and her family.”

Even news of her improving health is released only through Fuller, not the hospital where she is recuperating, which has not been identified.

Fuller said Carruthers’ family was most comfortable with having donations to them channeled through the collaborative HelpNow fund where donations can be designated to individual victims or to the fund as a whole. Although the fund scrupulously documents every donation and payment, she said, it does not disclose the identities of individual donors or recipients, to protect the privacy of both.

She said the first priority is to meet the needs of victims’ families for food, shelter and other basics, and to help families connect with services that may be available to help them, including government assistance from victim assistance programs.

Fuller said both the Carruthers and Kopf families now have a social worker assigned through the YWCA to help them navigate the support systems they may need long term.

The family of the man accused of the killings, and people who witnessed the shootings, are also considered victims eligible for help from the HelpNow fund.

After the initial crisis, the victims’ situations are stabilized and the “high level needs” that don’t fall under the umbrella of other services are met, funding will be awarded to groups that seek grants to address long-term problems such as violence in the community.

None of the money designated for victims will be used for anything other than services to the victims, Hunt said. One hundred percent of the donations for victims go to the victims, said Carrie Pickett-Erway, President/CEO of the Kalamazoo Community Foundation.

According to GoFundMe’s website, “GoFundMe will deduct a 5 percent fee from each donation received in addition to a processing fee of about 3 percent also deducted from each donation.”

“We do not confirm or deny the legitimacy of any GoFundMe sites,” Kalamazoo County Undersheriff Pali Matya said.

Donations to individual victims, whether through the HelpNow fund or any other fundraising effort, are not tax deductible, according to Internal Revenue Service rules, Hunt said. “But they gave us that flexibility” to use donations to help victims immediately and directly, even knowing there would be no tax break for them, she said.

She said that has been typical of the outpouring of generosity the community has shown, which has included in-kind donations of services in addition to cash and fund-raising efforts.

Langeland Funeral Homes, for instance, provided the arrangements and its services free of charge to the family of shooting victims Tyler Smith, 17, and his father, Rich Smith.

Children’s Literacy Foundation Announces Grants Available for NH and VT Rural Libraries and Community Organizations Serving Youth | VTDigger

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Children’s Literacy Foundation Announces Grants Available for NH and VT Rural Libraries and Community Organizations Serving Youth

News Release Children’s Literacy Foundation (CLiF)
March 1, 2016

CLiF contact:
Tracy Goldfine, communications manager
802-244-0944
[email protected]

WATERBURY CENTER, Vt: The Children’s Literacy Foundation (CLiF) is currently accepting applications for Rural Libraries, Summer Readers, and Fall At-Risk Children grant programs. The three grants are available to New Hampshire and Vermont rural libraries and other organizations serving children up to age 12 who are at risk of growing up with low literacy skills.

CLiF’s Rural Libraries grant helps rural libraries improve their children’s book collections, increase literacy programming in collaboration with the local elementary school and childcare centers, and make library books more accessible to local children. It includes $2,000 in new children’s books for the public library as well as $500 in new books for the elementary school library.

Summer Readers grants are available to community organizations, summer schools, nutrition programs, camps and other programs that support low-income and at-risk children during school vacation.

The Heart Research UK and Subway Healthy Heart grants are a new initiative, operated by the charity and funded by in-store fundraising across Subway stores.

Heart Research UK and Subway team up for Healthy Heart grants The Heart Research UK and Subway Healthy Heart grants are a new initiative, operated by the charity and funded by…

COMMUNITY groups in Yeovil could benefit from a share of 10,000 charity funding.

The Heart Research UK and Subway Healthy Heart grants are a new initiative, operated by the charity and funded by in-store fundraising across Subway stores.

Funding will be awarded to original, innovative projects that promote heart health and help reduce the risk of people developing heart disease.

Projects can address a variety of issues including healthy eating, physical activity and helping people to give up smoking.

Barbara Harpham, national director at Heart Research UK, said: “The aim of our partnership with the Subway brand is to encourage people to make good healthy choices and give practical help.

“This funding will help even more people learn how to look after their heart health and ultimately lead healthier, happier, longer lives.

“It’s great that so many customers and staff at Subway stores have raised the money to get this up and running. Thanks to everyone who has made these grants possible and interested groups can apply for a grant now.”

Roger Cusa, head of marketing for the Subway brand in the UK and Ireland, said:”The Subway brand is delighted that through our partnership with Heart Research UK this funding is now available.

“Subway stores in the region have enjoyed fundraising and, combined with money generously donated by our customers in store, we’re proud to be able to offer this grant in the region.

“We have worked hard to spread the healthy heart message through Subway stores and to be able to take this to the next level by supporting community projects that also place heart health at the top of their agenda, is wonderful.

“We really appreciate the fact that this initiative reaches out to people from all walks of life, in all manner of ways, to help improve lifestyles and educate people on keeping their hearts healthy.”

The deadline for applications is Wednesday, March 30.

For more information or to apply for a grant

Driven by Australia’s tech entrepreneurs and investors: The resources boom makes way for the technology boom | Dynamic Business Small Business Advice Forums | Dynamic Business Australia As Australia jumped from the 13th largest market for tech IPOs in 2013 to 5th largest in 2015, futurist, Roger James Hamilton, suggests that a set of perfect climatic conditions are seeing Australia organically turn away from the embers of the resources boom, making headway towards a technology boom.

‘Australia is fast becoming a hot spot in the world for technology advances’

As a world renowned futurist, social entrepreneur and founder of Entrepreneurs Institute, Hamilton meets with leading entrepreneurs at his Fast Forward your Business events held in Asia, Australia, UK and South Africa. With his global perspectives, Hamilton told Dynamic Business that Australia is fast becoming a hot spot in the world for technology advances, leaving the US, Japan and other major tech players behind:

“Australia’s reputation in the tech world has grown rapidly, not only because of global tech companies listing in Australia, but as a result of Australian technology getting more press internationally than ever before,” he said.

“Sydney-based Atlassian listed on US Nasdaq in December last year, valuing it at $6 billion and making it one of the world’s biggest IPO’s last year.”

‘Tech IPOs have had a good track-record post-listing’

Hamilton comments that in the first half of last year, over 30 global tech companies listed on the Australian stock market, compared to 15 in the US. Following reports that some US firms are coming to Australia as a result of ‘reverse takeovers’ by mining businesses, Hamilton asserts that there are few listed companies in such difficulty that their public status is their only remaining asset.

“The window in which such reverse takeovers will take place in Australia is a small one, but the tech boom will be a longer term wave,” he said.

‘This new tech boom is being driven by Australia’s tech entrepreneurs and investors more than the government’

Firmly of the opinion that there is a more sustainable growth pattern in Australia’s technology sector, Mr Hamilton points to the tech billionaire Elon Musk, founder of electric car company, Tesla, and his decision to choose Australia as the first country to roll out Tesla’s ground breaking home battery system, Powerwall.

“Australia is leading the world in the use of solar power, having more rooftop solar power per capita than any other country.”

“Australia’s reputation in the tech world has grown rapidly, not only because of global tech companies listing in Australia, but as a result of Australian technology getting more press internationally than ever before,” he said.

“Google also chose Australia as the country to test their new drone technology, and now the Drone Racing League, which began in Australia, is becoming a worldwide phenomenon.”

And Hamilton does not credit government policy for a looming technology boom; rather, he opines that this has been in the making for some time thanks to our own evolving, self-educated outlooks:

“This new tech boom is being driven by Australia’s tech entrepreneurs and investors more than the government. The government has become very ‘tech friendly’, but largely in reaction to the shift.

“For example, just this week the Australian government set up a financial technology advisory group to support the growth of fintech in Australia, whilst crowdfunding, mobile payments and digital currencies have already been growing rapidly over the last three years.”

‘The optimism in the Australian tech industry stands out’

So change is afoot, but a successful sea-change to an economy powered by technology can only be measured by Australia’s ability to adapt to the effects along the way.

The Webster County Health Department is receiving a $216,500 grant for a long-term health care initiative designed to improve the overall health of area citizens.

The grant awarded to the Webster County Health Department will be shared among eight counties.

“This grant covers not only Webster County but also Hamilton, Wright, Humboldt, Pocahontas, Calhoun, Sac, and Buena Vista counties,” said Jennifer Wuebker, a registered nurse at the Webster County Health Department. We target vulnerable populations who lack access to health care by helping them navigate the health care system and plugging them into appropriate services.”

Aaron McHone, accountable care organization executive sponsor and executive director at the UnityPoint Health – Berryhill Center in Fort Dodge, said the initiative is designed to change how health care is being delivered.

“That’s the innovation to try to change our system that is more focused on sick care to really looking at health care,” McHone said. “Hospitals, public health agencies, nursing facilities, education organizations, local government and more will come together in these six communities to transform the health care delivery system.”

The selected communities will participate in broad-based health care system and payment reforms over the next three years in an effort to create better health outcomes and lower costs.

“The goals of the SIM Initiative are simple yet ambitious: improve health, change how health care is delivered and make financially sustainable changes,” said Reynolds in a written statement. “The SIM goals further our work in collaboration with our Healthiest State Initiative that has included the Iowa Health and Wellness Plan, Blue Zone Certified Communities and Medicaid Modernization.”

SIM is led by the Iowa Department of Human Services, Iowa Department of Public Health, and Iowa Healthcare Collaborative.

If you strive for excellence in all you do and have the ability to think ahead to anticipate the needs of the President/CEO read on

What you’ll do:

You will provide executive support to the President/CEO in a one-on-one working relationship.

Jaspervision: Snapshot from around the county ‘We all know the power of music’: Hardeeville teachers bring Guitars in the Classroom Jasper County school board considers deconsolidation Spring season gets going; THA baseball, softball teams get early wins Bonds named Ridgeland fire chief Four arrested in attempt to bring marijuana into Ridgeland prison Editorial: Hearts & Darts Coach Faber still seeks hoops championship ‘blessing’

Courtesy of Moroch Local McDonaldas Representative Becki Carpenter recently presented a check for $500 to Explorer Academy School as part of the McDonaldas of the Tri-State Balanced, Active Lifestyles Grant Program.

Courtesy of Moroch Local McDonaldas Representative Becki Carpenter recently presented a check for $500 to Explorer Academy School as part of the McDonaldas of the Tri-State Balanced, Active Lifestyles Grant Program.

HUNTINGTON – Explorer Academy School was recently awarded a $500 grant by McDonald’s Owner/Operators of the Tri-State through the Balanced, Active Lifestyles Grant Program. The grant will be used to purchase pedometers and incentives for students to meet their walking goals.

Becki Carpenter, local McDonald’s Representative, recently presented the school with its grant check and plaque.

McDonald’s Owner/Operators of the Tri-State awarded $12,500 in Balanced, Active Lifestyles Grants this year to educational programs in southeastern Ohio, eastern Kentucky and central West Virginia.

McDonald’s of the Tri-State is comprised of 93 restaurants in eastern Kentucky, southeastern Ohio and central and southern West Virginia.

New middle school to be discussed at meeting – Winston-Salem Journal: Journal West

Each of the founders has deep connections and experience in Hollywood: Sarah Adolphson is coming from her post as executive director of the WME Foundation, Catherine Kimmel from serving as lead West Coast consultant for Bono’s anti-poverty ONE Campaign and Regina Miller from serving as Geffen Playhouse’s chief development officer, while former CAA Foundation program director Michelynn Woodard most recently served as president of the foundations for Dr. Artemis will work with them on a comprehensive, long-term basis, a departure from how philanthropic consultants typically operate.

“There are firms that specialize in campaigns, there are firms that specialize in fundraising, there are firms that specialize in programmatic strategy, but there are very few that do it all,” Adolphson tells The Hollywood Reporter.