Southwest Missouri Bank is awarding 36 local nonprofits a grant

JOPLIN, MO – In tonight’s dose of good news… A trust is giving back to 36 local nonprofits.

“We couldn’t survive without local community support.” Says Stephanie Theis, Executive Director of Children’s Haven.

Southwest Missouri Bank is awarding 36 nonprofits in Jasper and Newton Counties the WR Corley Memorial Grant.

They are distributing more than $236,000 to the local organizations.

Jasper County Court approved advocate received the grant and says it will help the, build a new training and connection center on 20th Street near Range line

“Our court appointed advocates to be able to meet with their children and to get the training and support they need to be able to advocate for kids in foster care. the Corley Grant was a big big help to us in that project.” Says Debi Koelkebeck, Executive Director of Jasper County Casa.

Jasper County Casa will break ground on the new facility in the fall.

The grant will also help Children’s Haven with operating expenses.

“The Corley Grant will support crisis care for Joplin kids. Its really to provide safe shelter and nurturing care when families have some sort of stressful event going on.” Says Theis.

Lafayette House is also using their grant money for operating expenses.

The shelter gives women and children experiencing domestic or sexual violence a safe place to stay, and offers substance use disorder treatment.

“Mr. Corley was very generous to us when he was alive. And so the fact that he established such a generous trust to help so many organizations is really wonderful. What we find most helpful is that it’s local funding, the decisions are made locally and so they’re realty able to give some though to charities that need the help.” Says Louise Secker, Director of Development Lafayette House.

Bob Corley passed away in 2019, but his legacy lives on with the trust he established through Southwest Missouri Bank.

“It was clear from the applications we saw that we’ve got some great charities in Southwest Missouri.” Says Chuck Brown, Trust offer with Southwest Missouri Bank.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *