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Donor Stories
Doing More Than Just Wishing for Health and Happiness
The hopes and dreams behind every coin tossed into a fountain on the Country Club Plaza live on because the coins are donated to the Plaza Fountain Fund for Children's Mercy Hospital at the Greater Kansas City Community Foundation. It is a tradition that picked up momentum more than two decades ago.
"The Plaza had seven filling stations and Miller replaced them with fountains in 1985," said Jeannette Nichols, widow of Miller Nichols who founded the fund. "He didn't think too much about people putting coins into the fountains, but when they did he wanted to give the money to Children's Mercy Hospital. He always had a great affinity for it."
Miller Nichols hoped that these coins could provide seed money for an endowment for Children's Mercy Hospital, and he approached the Community Foundation confident that his wishes would be carried out beyond his lifetime. Indeed, the Plaza Fountain Fund will continue to memorialize the wishes of its founder.
Scholarships for Urban Youth
The Kansas City Securities Association, an organization of more than 40 investment professionals in the Kansas City area, established the KCSA Education Endowment Fund in 1986 to provide financial support for tuition, special projects, needs or emergency assistance to students.
KCSA has awarded more than 200 college scholarships totaling an estimated $1.3 million to members of Kansas City's Marching Cobras, student athletes selected by the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum, student athletes at the University of Missouri-Kansas City, and members of the Boys and Girls Clubs of Greater Kansas City.
Helping Needy Children in the Northland
In the mid-1930s, NeVada Linscomb, born to a German immigrant family, met Irven Linscomb. Irven, himself born into poverty in Texas, was working for the Chase Bag Company in Kansas City's River Market. Soon Irven and NeVada started their own company, building a successful business that thrived for many years.
It was in 1957 when Irven met Bill Zimmer and joined Zimmer Companies. "Irven was a man of integrity who took only calculated risks and yet was great fun to be with," Bill said.
After Irven died, NeVada opened the Irven E. and NeVada P. Linscomb Foundation Fund in 1988 at the Greater Kansas City Community Foundation. A year later, Bill persuaded NeVada to set up a charitable trust to ensure that her charitable passions could be realized.
NeVada passed away eight years later, and through the Community Foundation the couple's legacy lives on. The Irven E. and NeVada P. Linscomb Foundation Fund supports services for children in the Northland, including "Miles of Smiles," a mobile dental program.
A rich history of giving back to the region
Arthur E. Stilwell founded Kansas City Southern in 1887 with a bold vision to provide a direct north-south rail route to the Gulf of Mexico, moving grain, coal, lumber and other minerals across a growing nation.
Considered to be eccentric during a time when other railroads adopted an east-west route, Stilwell pushed forward with his dream of the north-south rail line, undaunted by those who labeled his aspirations unrealistic. Stilwell's strategy—and Kansas City Southern—was an unqualified success.
For more than a century, the leaders and hard-working railroaders at Kansas City Southern have embraced Stilwell's tenacious ingenuity, making Kansas City Southern what it is today. Deeply committed to the community, the company established the Kansas City Southern Charitable Fund at the Greater Kansas City Community Foundation in 1993 and later launched a matching gifts program to encourage employees to experience the joys of charitable giving.
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