In early December a report came out from the Lippard-Clawiter Foundation saying they had distributed some $421,916 in funds to Chouteau County organizations needing funds in 2015.
Since the Lippard Foundation got its start in 1980 and turned into the Lippard-Clawiter Foundation in 1995, almost seven million dollars has helped various organizations though out Chouteau County!
It is like a giant Santa Claus sitting in a corner of Chouteau County, just waiting for someone to ask and that Santa will do as much as possible to make sure the organization receives. Only thing is, when looking at what has been requested this year and any year, what has been requested is usually higher than what is actually given to the organization.
Pam Gusechausky is the secretary-treasurer of the organization and looks after the day to day operations.
Allin Cheetham, from Fort Benton, is president of the Board and has been a board member since 1986.
Stan Klimas, from Fort Benton, is vice president and has been on the board since 1995.
Don Engellant, From Geraldine, has been a board member since 2012.
Robert Quinn, from Big Sandy, has been a board member since 1990.
Darin Schuster, is the County Commissioner on the board. The head of the County Commissioners has a seat on the board. Schuster is from Big Sandy.
Francis Engellant, from Great Falls, has been a board member since the board was formed in 1980. He is an honorary life member.
Those are the people responsible for passing out those enormous amounts of money to Chouteau County organizations.
Bob Quinn said it is difficult sometimes to choose how much to give and who to give it to.
“This year we had requests for $784,172 and we approved $421,916. All that came from 38 applicants,” said Quinn.
“The Foundation is obligated to give out at least 5%of its average net worth for the year,” Quinn continued. “If you can imagine next year we will reach the seven million dollar mark for funds given out.”
Quinn says that once in a while board meetings get feisty when awarding money but as a rule the person representing the locality from which a request for funding came usually knows a lot about the reason for the application being turned in to begin with.
“Many times the board member will have firsthand knowledge of what is going on with an application,” added Quinn.
Just imagine if every county in the United States had that foundation in its state. What a difference there would be in funding many worthwhile projects.
Quinn said that sometimes the board just does not have enough information and does not fund a request. If a group reapplies the next year, their chances are better to get the additional funding that Lippard-Clawiter can provide.
Quinn said that the board has put a lot of money into the Chouteau County Fairgrounds over the years. They have done a lot of infrastructure work and while the return is certainly not great, the value culturally is enormous for citizens of the county.
Senior citizens organizations receive funding from Lippard-Clawiter but according to Quinn they need all the help they can get because even though the population of Chouteau County is aging, those numbers do not show up at area senior citizen’s centers.
In Big Sandy in 2015 the swim team got $4000.00 for equipment; the Rotary Club got $2500.00 for youth activities; the senior citizens center got $7500.00 for new dining room flooring; Big Sandy Activities got $4427.00 for lifts for support; the Community Hall got $5000.00 to upgrade the kitchen; the town of Big Sandy got $9950 for upgrades to the swimming pool and park; Big Sandy Medical Center Guild got $5000.00 for commercial refrigerator, commercial dome covers and bases; Big Sandy Medical Center got $10,000.00 for a portable ultrasound system and training to use the system; Big Sandy Search and Rescue got $5000.00 for hot stick voltage regulator and stretcher training. The Volunteer Fire Department got $10,000.00 for a standby generator; and Doug Giebel and the Big Sandy Cultural Fund got $5000.00 to create a broad based cultural facility approved for film and paper only.
That makes a total of $74,572.00 out of $108,916 in 2015 requests.
