Kenny, Ruth, Kent, & Scot Greenwell
Growing up in Loogootee and being part of a farm family, Kenny Greenwell admired good citizens and family members who always seemed to be giving. Some of these good citizens had large families but still found time to give back to their community. After volunteering on a couple of fund drives at Loogootee St. John Catholic Church, Kenny started focusing on “time, talent or treasure” as three ways of giving.
Kenny remembers community leaders and his uncles and aunts volunteering in various organizations. His father Pat, owner of Greenwell Hardware, used to support needy citizens by giving them small loans until they got their monthly check or paycheck. His brother Keith later owned the store and then became a St. Vincent DePaul member to help others. Other family members always contributed their “time, talent or treasure” to the community. Kenny recalls the effort to establish the Loogootee Industrial Park and family donations to that fund to revitalize the old brickyard property.
Kenny has admired the Martin County Community Foundation and the individuals and families who have established endowment funds as memorial remembrances or pay it forward donations. The Greenwell’s were one of the original five-year donors to the Loogootee Basketball Family Scholarship Fund lead by Jack and Rita Butcher as well as donors to other funds. The honorary funds tell wonderful stories; some are good stories resulting from tragedy.
Ruth worked locally in Martin County and was Administrator of Popular Valley Nursing Center, now Martin County Nursing Center. She has used her social work and management talent in volunteer work at Red Cross, as a Court Appointed Special Advocate, and addiction support. She also volunteers at libraries. One of her proud moments was giving a homeless veteran a temporary home, seeing her prosper and make it on her own.
Kenny, a U. S. Navy Veteran, spent most of his career at the Crane Naval Support Activity. Roughly half of the Martin County land is occupied by the U. S. Navy. Kenny supported the preservation of history at Crane, is a Board Member/Director at Crane Credit Union and has served as an ambassador for government projects. He is a member of several military and civic organizations. Kenny also considers himself a renegade volunteer since he strives to provide homes for people who do not qualify for bank loans. After reaching the age for 401K required minimum distributions and seeing the potential for Lilly Endowment Gift matches, he discussed the benefits with family members. The results are one unrestricted fund and one donor advised fund. Both got a big boost from the Lilly Endowment Gift VII Initiative.
Kent Greenwell has been active in church, Knights of Columbus, and community organizations in West Lafayette. Scot has always been a time and talent giver in community theatre and now supports many productions in the Indianapolis area. Having them as participants in the donor advised fund will encourage continued involvement in family philanthropy.
The Kenny and Ruth Greenwell Family Fund was established as an unrestricted fund so that board members could always choose to support areas of greatest need. The KKS Greenwell donor advised fund was established so the family can support specific, qualified non-profit entities. Both funds have benefited from the Lilly Endowment Gift VII and accept donations.