Lawrence County Positive Impact
Together We Are Making
a Positive Impact in our Communities
Friends of Spring Mill State Park
LCCF provided a $2,800 Impact Grant to the Friends of Spring Mill State Park to purchase the equipment for a compressed air and bike maintenance station. Additional funding from the Lawrence County Women’s Cycling Club and the Friends of Spring Mill State Park provided the concrete for the pad to house the station. The Spring Mill State Park service staff prepared the location, formed the concrete pad, and installed the equipment. This project was a successful collaborative effort.
Over 800,000 people visit the park each year, including 33,000 campers. The maintenance station is located in the campground adjacent to the camp store and can be accessed by park visitors 24 hours a day. The camp store reports that the station has been busy. While the maintenance station has a bicycle focus, the compressed air can be used for bicycle and auto tires, flotation devices, and air mattresses. The maintenance station includes several common tools attached to stainless steel cables with tamper proof fasteners for bike maintenance.
Boys & Girls Club
The Boys and Girls Club of Lawrence County has received LCCF Field of Interest Grants to renovate their kitchen and most recently for their Culinary Program. The program will provide cooking instruction for older teens from the Teen Center. They will cook at eight individual stations, each equipped with their own cooking supplies. The food they prepare will provide dinner for the 35-50 children at the Limestone Center who stay until 6:00 most nights.
Bedford Lions Club
The Bedford Lions Club started a ramp building program in 1989. Since then, true to the Lions motto “We Serve,” they have built over 300 ramps for elderly and disabled residents of Lawrence County. Many of these residents are on a fixed income and unable to afford the full cost of a ramp. Over the years, the Lions Club has applied for and received grants from the Margie Marie Pennington Fund to help cover the cost of the ramps for those who needed the help. The ramps have been essential for enabling these individuals to come and go from their home and in many instances remain living in their home.
Maggie Hamilton, pictured on the right, with Andrea Auf der Heyde who was the first Teacher on the Trail.
Iditarod Teacher on the Trail
In 2018, Maggie Hamilton, a Burris Elementary School Teacher, was awarded a $170 Classroom Grant for educational materials relating to the Iditarod. The program was designed to expand the students’ knowledge of Alaskan geography and history as well as the rules and regulations of the race. They had live access to a Teacher on the Trail and the GPS trackers of the dogs and mushers. Maggie utilized the program to include the whole school and she has continued the program every year since. This year as we dropped off a new Classroom Grant for Maggie, she tearfully shared how profoundly the 2018 grant has impacted her life. This year, Maggie will be the official Iditarod Teacher on the Trail providing educational material about the race. It’s amazing what can come from a $170 grant and an innovative and enthusiastic teacher.
Mitchell High School
With funds from a 2023 Classroom Grant, the Freshman class experienced a year-long, multi-disciplinary program incorporating English, Algebra, Biology, World History, and Construction Trades. Classroom lessons were enhanced with a hands-on project in which the students refreshed and expanded the school’s pollinator garden. The students applied Biology skills to learn about the environmental importance of pollinator gardens and cultivating native plants, researched the requirements to become a designated Monarch Butterfly Way Station, and planned an expansion to meet these requirements. The Construction Trades students built planters to house the high-nectar annuals and biennuals needed for the Monarch Way Station. Student developed their Algebra skills using functions to create Earth Day key chains, signs, and graphs. In World History they explored what other communities and cultures are doing regarding the environment and the laws and taxes that can affect these efforts. Students also wrote poetry about nature. They used multiple disciplines to create QR signs throughout the garden that provided information about the nearby plants. The project culminated with the area being officially designated a Monarch Way Station and students sharing what they learned with the community at an Earth Day Celebration. Those who attended were able to take home upcycled products made by the students to encourage them to apply these same practices at home.
Avoca Park
One component of Lilly Endowment Inc. GIFT VII was a Leadership Project. The first phase of the Leadership Project was to research the strengths and needs of our community. With the assistance of E-Solve Consulting, LCCF held community meetings and surveyed the community to get input on what community members liked about our community and where they thought it could be improved. From the information collected, recreational opportunities emerged as a need in our community.
Marshall Township in particular had a strong need for a community park. LCCF partnered with the Trustee and the Avoca Park Board to enhance the park at the former Avoca Fish Hatchery. For nearly 100 years a 40-acre tact of land in Marshall Township served as a DNR fish hatchery. In 2013, DNR decided to phase out and decommission the hatchery and deed the land to Marshall Township. The Township assessed the state of the park, considered its potential, and developed a plan. LCCF worked with the park to prioritize their plans and awarded a $124,500 grant to expand the playground and provide handicap accessible restrooms.
What a difference these enhancements have made. The park is quickly becoming a vital part of the community.
Raptors Rise
Rehabilitation Center
Raptors Rise Rehabilitation Center has three main goals: rehabilitation, conservation, and education. LCCF awarded an Impact Grant to Raptors Rise to help fund their Screech Owl Nesting Box workshop. One hundred twenty-seven people participated in the program and 100 nesting boxes were constructed.
Attendees of the workshop learned that we have small raptors living in our towns and they help keep our rodent population under control. We call them Urban Owls.
One such owl is the Eastern Screech Owl. Screech Owls are cavity nesters and if the tree they are nesting in is cut down, they need to find a new home. That can be difficult in town. As a Raptor Rehabilitation Facility, they are seeing many displaced Eastern Screech Owls. They developed the workshop to educate the community about the importance of these owls and to build nesting boxes to provide homes for the owls throughout the community.
Springville Gym
In July 2016, the Springville Gym was destroyed by fire. In the five years since, The Springville Gym Restoration Board has partnered with Steve Ferguson and engineer Brent Conner to restore the gym. They have worked hard to receive engineering approval on a plan to stabilize the walls in order to get a permit to proceed with renovations and to receive approval from the Indiana Department of Natural Resources on steps needed to address issues resulting from the gym’s location in a flood plain.
With those approvals in place, the project is finally moving forward. The walls have been stabilized and stone is being cut to form a cap on the walls. Soon bids will be taken to enclose the gym. The goal is to complete the interior so that it can once again host Scout meetings, wedding receptions, kids’ parties, and more.
They gym was originally constructed in 1936 as a WPA project. It served as the high school gym for a few years before the high school was consolidated with Oolitic. The gym continued to serve the elementary school. Eventually, when the elementary school constructed and attached gym, the Springville Gym became a community center where the community gathered for the annual summer festival, live gospel music, and tractor pulls. Once restored, the gym will continue serve as the Springville Community Center hosting activities that bring the community together.
The Springville Community Association received a grant from the Springville Community Heritage Fund to assist with the costs of repairing the fire damaged Springville Gym.
