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HISTORY |
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HistoryHistoryHistoryHistoryHistoryHistory
As a community, the people of Morton have shown that heart and community spirit are woven into their spiritual fabric. Mortonites have long demonstrated respect for heritage, and willingness to actively participate to make Morton a better place to live. Today, we have an amazing opportunity to help shape the future by supporting the Morton Community Foundation. This Foundation has been formed as a "Community Trust" or "Savings Account" created by Morton people for Morton people for the benefit of generations to come. Donations to the Morton Community Foundation offer financial benefits and tax incentives, and this truly represents a win-win situation for contributors and the community.
Throughout its history, America has been blessed with endowments and donations, foundations and trusts from philanthropic people who directed portions of personal fortunes to their most favored causes such as colleges and hospitals, parks, museums and the performing arts.
Names that will be forever remembered because of foundations include Carnegie, Ford and Rockefeller; and universities named after benefactors like Duke, Yale, Stanford and Vanderbilt. All have become legacies that withstand time. Chicago has developed a worldwide reputation for its devotion to the arts and sciences. There is history behind every name. The Peoria area was influenced a century ago by the vision and financial commitment of people like Lydia Bradley and John Proctor; and more recently by the Bielfeldt family. Morton, too, has been blessed by its share of visionaries and benefactors; names that have become part of our landscape such as Albert McClallen (McLallen Memorial Park, Soccer fields), Bertha Frank (Bertha Frank Performing Arts Center), contributors to the Freedom Hall project, 1976, and donors to the Morton Public Library expansion project, late 1980?s.
In the late 1990s and early 2000, a handful of visionary Morton business people began meeting to discuss the possibility of establishing a Foundation to benefit Morton. They knew Morton would need to adapt to its growth and prosperity without being burdened by debt and higher taxation. Morton would need to maintain and further its support of family and neighborhoods by funding new projects such as recreational facilities, an indoor pool, a community center and other possibilities yet to be envisioned. They saw a need to broaden Morton?s services and give promise and opportunity to their youth; give seniors the choice to remain in Morton into their later years by offering extended services inside and outside their homes; provide disabled citizens the opportunity to live a full and prosperous life; and offer educational programs and scholarship opportunities that are in sync with an ever changing workplace. These leaders envisioned meeting these demands by using independent funding and the Morton Community Foundation was created.
Similar Foundations are already in place or are being formed in progressive communities throughout the United States. The Articles of Incorporation of the Morton Community Foundation were filed in Peoria County, IL on May 8, 2000, recognized as a 501(c)(3) Not-For-Profit Corporation. The following individuals names were filed as the founding Board of Trustees for the Morton Community Foundation (listed in the order they appear in the Article of Incorporation): Dennis A. Ewald, James A. Carius, Ned R. Middendorf, Mark S. Johnson, Nancy Koch, Phillip A. Kuhl, John D. Sauder, William I. Covey, Ken Baum, Gene A. Petersen, Jean Ann Honegger, Merlin R. Birky.
Beginning in 2005, the Board of Trustees began discussing the potential hiring of a full or part time Executive Director, and in July of 2007 the Board hired Scott A. Witzig, as the first full time Executive Director of the Morton Community Foundation.
Today the Morton Community Foundation has just over $1,000,000 in managed assets. The extent to which the Morton Community Foundation can grow is determined by the dreams and visions of its donors.
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