Every year, the South Bend-Elkhart region honors its brightest and best young leaders in Michiana 40 Under 40. The program is accepting nominations for the 15th annual class of young executives, leaders and professionals in St. Joseph, Elkhart and Marshall counties. For the last 15 years, a group of partners from across the region have come together to gather nominations and honor a group of the 40 people who have achieved great things before the age of 40. The Community Foundation of Elkhart County is a presenting sponsor for the annual initiative. Our President Pete McCown was involved in helping Read More »

Mary Hoover was born in 1918, before women had the right to vote, before school desegregation, before Alaska and Hawaii became states. She was a dedicated aunt, high school Spanish teacher, and member of First United Methodist Church of Middlebury. Though she traveled often, journeying to all 48 contiguous states and leading class trips to Acapulco, Mexico, her path always led back home to Elkhart County.  In life, Mary built her legacy by the time she gave, not the checks she wrote. But when she passed away at age 100, friends and family also learned of her financial legacy. Thirty Read More »

Sitting outside on an unusually idyllic August day, Jurate Krabill is chatting about herself — a subject she’s not afraid to let people know makes her a little uneasy.  “I’m a little uncomfortable,” she says. “I’m not a limelight person.” She has become a part of a growing area in the United States: female philanthropy. The path she’s taken to get to where she is has been long and winding, but it’s a story she’s willing to share. Krabill was born in Lithuania and as a girl moved to Canada with her family following World War II. She studied nursing Read More »

While more and more people are learning about the Community Foundation of Elkhart County for our work in providing various grants to efforts to improve the quality of life, to help children and to help make Elkhart County a more vibrant community, that’s only part of the picture. In fact, the mainstay of our giving since the Community Foundation started in the 1980s has been scholarships. And while we’ve stepped up the amount of grant funding we’ve committed to Elkhart County, we haven’t backed off one bit on our commitment and that of our donors to helping provide quality higher-education Read More »

We believe, along with so many people in our community, that having a vibrant community, having a “quality of place,” improves community pride and overall life satisfaction. The Pumpkinvine Nature Trail provides key community connections that help make life better in Elkhart County. Thanks to the Friends of the Pumpkinvine Nature Trail, bicyclists from Elkhart, Dunlap or Goshen can ride trails that take them along the old Pumpkin Vine Railroad through Middlebury and to Shipshewana. The trail is not even done yet and has already gained national recognition for the beautiful, quiet and safe path which runs northeast from Goshen, Read More »

When you’re going through the greatest trials life has to offer, that’s not usually a convenient time to sit down and consider whether to create a private foundation or to find an alternative. But sometimes the worst time to think about it is also the most important time. And those are times when people can turn to the Community Foundation of Elkhart County, when they can talk to us and we’ll listen, find out what they want, and then offer our services, if appropriate, or give them recommendations elsewhere. Oftentimes, setting up a designated fund, memorial gift or donor-advised fund Read More »

There’s a partnership of the Community Foundation that you may not be aware of: the Elkhart County Estate Planning Council. This Council is composed of professional advisors from a number of different fields: attorneys, investment advisors, trust officers and certified public accountants — all professionals who are instrumental in advising their clients when it comes to making decisions on planning for their estates. “Many times I hear people say ‘Estate? I don’t have an estate,’” relates Mike Pianowski, Senior Partner of Sanders – Pianowski, LLC, located along the RiverWalk in downtown Elkhart. “For example, I may be talking to a young Read More »

It’s humbling when people choose the Community Foundation of Elkhart County as the way to make their generosity live on for future generations. Whether it’s helping young people better afford higher education or supporting the work of the great nonprofits who create a safety net in our community, the gifts to the Foundation make our community stronger and plant seeds that will grow and bloom in unexpected and remarkable ways. The real work of the Foundation is matching donors and worthy causes. It is work that our staff and volunteers take seriously. Watching them interact with donors and grant recipients Read More »

Even before Jayco Inc. was founded in 1968, Lloyd and Bertha Bontrager committed themselves to tithing and giving to charitable causes. Following the sale of Jayco to Thor Industries, the family’s new Bontrager Family Foundation will perpetuate giving for generations to come as part of the Community Foundation of Elkhart County. “We wanted to continue our ability to support charities as we have in the past,” said Wilbur Bontrager, chairman of the board and a member of the second of three generations involved in the business and its giving. Pete McCown, president of the Community Foundation, said the Bontrager family has been Read More »

Bethany Mullet has been singing since before she could talk and as a little girl she dreamed of being in a college choir. As the first graduate of Clinton Christian School to receive the Lilly Endowment Community Scholarship (LECS) through the Community Foundation, she’ll be able to study music in college and follow her dreams. “It’s such a blessing I wasn’t expecting,” she said of earning the full-ride scholarship to attend Bethel College in Mishawaka. “It means I can study music. I didn’t think it’d be possible for a while. Now I get to explore my passion.” The vibrant young woman Read More »