CHARITABLE DONATIONS: Isabella Bank gave a total of $4,825 to 10 groups in the 2014 Match Day event on Tuesday. Pictured (from left) Big Rapids East Bank Manager Felicia Donovan and Assistant Vice President Josh Eling present the check to Mecosta County Community Foundation President Tim Zehr. (Pioneer photo/Candy Allan)
By Candy Allan
Pioneer, Reprinted with Permission
BIG RAPIDS — Themed “Miracle in Mecosta County,” Match Day 2014 aimed to raise $1 million in seven hours.
The extended community did just that.
Organized by the Mecosta County Community Foundation, the one-day event brought in an unofficial total of $1,014,000 for nonprofits and endowments in Mecosta County. This sum sets a new record for Match Day and is $116,000 more than last year’s total.
In addition to general giving, four new endowed funds were introduced at Match Day. The new funds introduced include the Babb Ford Scholarship, the Wheatland Music Organization Endowment, the Cran-Hill Ranch Endowment and the Batdorff Safety Net.
SAFETY NET: Susan (left) and Jack Batdorff present a check for $30,000 at Match Day on Tuesday to help start the Batdorff Safety Net Fund. This fund is designed to be a resource for any human-service agency that finds itself running short of money before the needs of the community have been met. (Pioneer photo/Candy Allan)
Once it gets underway, the Babb Ford Scholarship fund aims to provide a scholarship for Mecosta County students, said Bob Horan, representative of Babb Ford.
For more than 20 years, the dealership has contributed to the Ron and Leota Babb Scholarship Fund to benefit an Osceola County student. That scholarship gives $1,000 to a graduating high school senior each year.
With the realignment from Ford Motor Company making Babb Ford the official Ford dealership for Mecosta County, they wanted to do something for this area as well, Horan said.
“We wanted to give back and show we’re part of the community,” Horan said. “The best way to do that is a scholarship.”
The Osceola County scholarship fund is now fully funded, he added, so proceeds from the dealership’s annual golf outings for the future will be directed to the Mecosta County fund.