12/29/2025
Thank you so much to Heartland Community Foundation for supporting our Crisis Intervention Center, which will serve Ellis, Rooks and Trego counties and all of Northwest Kansas. We appreciate your support of this life-saving mission!
Before the year comes to a close, we’re sending out one final round of 2025 Heartland grant checks worth $152,515! 🙌🩵💰
Congratulations to 35 local organizations in Ellis, Rooks, and Trego counties. Heartland helped fully fund 14 projects and partially fund 21 more during our most recent cycle.
🌟 In Ellis County, $58,324.28 was distributed to these organizations:
$1,250 to Ellis Youth Action Council, facilitators for two local teenagers, for the Snow
Angels Project
$5,000 to USD 388 Education Foundation for the Little Railers Childcare Project
$5,000 to the Basillica of St. Fidelis – Parish Activity Center in Victoria for exterior
restoration
$3,500 to First Call for Help of Ellis County toward the purchase of a new delivery
van
$2,500 from the Hays Optimist Friends of Youth Fund to Fort Hays State University for
improvements to the Sternberg Discovery Room at the Sternberg Museum
$3,500 to Disabled American Veterans Chapter 18 toward purchase of a new medical
transport van
$1,700 to First Baptist Church for kitchen upgrades
$3,000 to High Plains Mental Health Center for safety features for Crisis Intervention
Center
$10,000 from the Ellis County Disaster Fund to STEM Harvest for the Hays Community
Radar Project
$4,000 to USD 432 Victoria for upgrades to the high school gym sound system
$1,000 to Hays Arts Council for professional theatre production for elementary students
$2,500 to HaysMed Foundation for equipment at the new planned outdoor exercise area, Lifelong Vitality: Bickle Schmidt Center for Health Improvement
$2,500 to Holy Cross Church for stained glass window restoration
$3,000 to Victoria Recreation Commission for Pickleball Court Project
$905.28 to DSNWK for medical equipment
$2,325 to Lovegrass Music Festival for the downtown Hays Summer Concert Series
$750 to Hays Area Bicyclists for marketing support for new youth mountain bike team
coming this spring
$2,000 to Victoria Community Coalition for cleaning equipment for St. John’s Place
$2,000 to the Ellis Kids Wrestling Club for score clocks
$894 to Thomas More Prep-Marian High School for CAD lab monitors
$1,000 to Ellis County Youth Action Council, facilitator for one local teenager, for
communication boards at local parks
🌟In Rooks County, $35,950 was distributed to these organizations:
$7,500 to City of Stockton for CPR devices for Rooks County EMS response vehicles
$4,000 from the Rooks County Disaster Fund to the City of Stockton for Rescue Chain
Saws
$2,000 to Rooks County Historical Society for museum frontage sign
$3,450 to Stockton Public Library for a Charlie Cart
$5,000 to Stockton Recreation Commission for Kincaid Field fence renovation and safety
upgrade
$5,000 to USD 269 Palco for Saw Stop Machine – Woods Shop
$1,000 to Disabled American Veterans Chapter 18 towards purchase of new medical
access van
$1,000 to USD 270 for Paradise Flats Theatre Collective/Cardinal Drama Program
$1,500 to High Plains Mental Health Center for safety features for Crisis Intervention
Center
$2,500 from the Rooks County Disaster Fund to STEM Harvest for the Hays Community
Radar Project
$3,000 to Damar Community Foundation for basketball/pickleball court improvement
🌟In Trego County, $58,241.39 was distributed to these organizations:
$13,072.39 to USD 208 for the highway Crosswalk Sign Project to create safer access
$15,000 to the Trego County Fair Board for Commercial Building HVAC
$3,000 to Trego Chamber of Commerce for Buzzard Bash tables and chairs
$9,000 to Trego County-Lemke Memorial Hospital for C-1 Ventilator, humidifier, trolly & clinical training
$2,449 to High Plains Mental Health Center for safety features for Crisis Intervention
Center
$2,500 from the Trego County Disaster Fund to STEM Harvest for the Hays Community
Radar Project
$4,220 to USD 208 for Auditorium Video Project
$8,000 to Trego Sky View Foundation for Portable Restroom Trailer to be used at the new drive-in and other places in town
$1,000 to Prairie Faith Shared Ministry for Parish Nurse equipment & training
This round of fall/winter grants was made possible by the Dane G. Hansen Community Grant Fund, which
focuses on improving quality of life throughout the county; the Ellis County, Rooks County, and
Trego County Legacy Funds (our largest grantmaking funds); the Heartland Healthy Living Fund and the Kansas Health Foundation Fund for Heartland Community; Heartland Action Fund; Ellis, Rooks, & Trego
County Disaster Relief Funds; Trego County Enhancement Fund; Trego Youth Action Council Fund, and the Hays Optimist Friends of Youth Fund.
The foundation’s next grant cycle opens March 15, with online applications due May 15, 2026.
➡️ Read more here: https://heartlandcommunityfoundation.org/about-us/news/heartland-community-foundation-awards-152-515-in-grants-to-local-organizations/
💰🌟 There were 21 projects that were partially funded and several applications that we were not able to fund, if you would like to help finish a project with a donation, please reach out for more information at 785-621-4090 or heartland@gscf.org.
