HUTCHINSON, Kan. — Hutchinson Community Foundation awarded Fund for Reno County grants totaling $179,319 to 16 nonprofit organizations in its second impact cycle of the year.
This brings the total for grants awarded in 2025 from the Fund for Reno County to $475,291 dispersed among 41 agencies serving the county.
Established in 1990, the Fund for Reno County Endowment serves as a permanent resource for the changing needs of Reno County. Grants represent an innovative approach or collaboration, a new efficiency, a critical need that requires funding or an opportunity that needs a bit of local support to leverage resources for the community.
Funding for Impact Cycle 2 grants was supplemented by contributions from the following donor advisors through the foundation’s Giving Together program: Shirley Brandyberry, David and Patty Dick, Angel and Steve Dillon, Peg and John Stephens, and Merna B. Weeks.
Proposals for the grants are accepted during two annual impact cycles, one in February and one in August. Impact Cycle 2 grants were aimed at projects in the following categories: Community & Economic Development and Strong Organizations.
All 2025 Fund for Reno County grants were celebrated during Hutchinson Community Foundation’s UPLIFT 2025 event Oct. 2 at the Reno County Farmers Market Pavilion.
Nearly 80 guests were on hand for an evening consisting of a live performance from local musician Jim French, food and drink, plenty of socializing, and a program recognizing the grants awarded this year to various nonprofit organizations through the Fund for Reno County.
The program also included awarding the Gift to Dream Grant. The $2,500 grant was given in honor of Hutch CF’s Legacy Society, made up of donors who have given $10,000 or more to an endowed fund or who have made an end-of-life financial commitment. Since 2022, Hutch CF has awarded one grant from the Fund for Reno County Endowment to a community benefit organization in Reno County in need of resources to imagine what more is possible to better serve its mission. The previous year’s winner selects the recipient from a short application process. NAMI Reno County chose Hutch in Harmony to receive this year’s grant.
Throughout the evening, the audience also heard “Changemaker Chats,” a series of short presentations on projects making progress in communities, from Donna Davis, Food Bank of Reno County; Tina Roelfs, City of Sylvia; Lacy Stauffacher, Interfaith Housing & Community Services Inc.; and Lauren Storm, Greater Hutch.
The following organizations received Impact Cycle 2 grants:
Community and Economic Development: $147,027
Projects and plans that strengthen the community and local economy by building a diverse and resilient workforce, activating central business districts or Downtowns, supporting existing businesses, attracting new ones, and encouraging entrepreneurs; also, projects that strengthen the quality of place in Reno County through placemaking in public spaces and improving housing quality and accessibility.
Buhler Public Library: $8,000: The library will use the grant to help fund an interactive wall mural and updated building awning.
City of Hutchinson: $19,000: Funding will help foster community pride through murals, light pole banners and business-led projects.
City of Plevna: $1,500: The grant will replace a piece of playground equipment destroyed by a tornado.
Food Bank of Reno County, Inc.: $27,320: Grant funds will support communications and development as the food bank expands to a new facility to better serve the community.
Foundation of Life Ministries: $18,906: This project provides overnight and wraparound services for unhoused individuals as an extension of the local shelter.
Hutchinson Friends of the Zoo Inc.: $10,000: The grant will support the addition of themed pedal boat rentals at the zoo.
Hutchinson’s Historic Fox Theatre: $28,301: Grant dollars will help fund the installation of a new boiler in the theater, helping ensure climate comfort year-round.
Pretty Prairie Community Food Pantry Association: $25,000: The grant will help fund the construction of a community space that will house the food pantry.
StartUp Hutch: $9,000: Funds will support workshops and coaching sessions for entrepreneurs across rural Reno County.
Strong Organizations: $32,292
Projects that strengthen the capacity, sustainability and resilience of Reno County community-based organizations.
Cancer Council of Reno County: $7,500: CCRC is undertaking a strategic marketing project with the objective to take their 28 years of work into the future by aligning what they have done, what they continue to do, and what they aspire to do into a cohesive marketing plan.
City of Sylvia: $2,580: The grant will pay for lightweight tables and chairs to replace dated, less mobile sets.
Clothed in Compassion: $6,993: Grant will provide supplies for Kitchen Hero Academy, a 10-week summer cooking course for middle-school students.
Early Education Center, Inc.: $6,500: This grant will go toward a strategic planning retreat for the education center.
Kansas Food Bank Warehouse, Inc.: $5,000: This project provides weekend food packs to food insecure children in kindergarten through eighth grade in Reno County who may not have access to nutritious meals when school is not in session.
Love Hutch Daily: $2,719: Funding will contribute to the purchase of a 15-passenger van to pick up students from area schools and deliver them to after-school care.
Trinity United Methodist Church: $1,000: Funds will provide materials and resources so that Circles Reno County can expand its community outreach.
Hutchinson Community Foundation’s mission is to inspire philanthropy, leadership and collaboration to strengthen Reno County. Since 1989, the foundation has granted more than $104 million to organizations.
