Not everyone can do what Barbara Bushnell did.
It was announced this week that she left some $60,000 to the city of Great Bend for improvements to Brit Spaugh Park and to Veterans’ Memorial Park.
The money is going to be paid out over the next few years and will be administered through the Golden Belt Community Foundation.
It will, in the first year, help to improve Christmas lights in Brit Spaugh and the walking path at Vets.
Both will certainly be welcomed improvements and in the years to come, the money will certainly make other improvements the public will enjoy.
As was noted above, not everyone can do this.
Especially in the current economy, and in the worsening one that is apparently projected, there may be fewer people who can make such donations.
But you don’t have to leave a lot to make a difference.
Locally you have the option, in addition to the Golden Belt Foundation, giving to the Great Bend Foundation, the college foundation, the USD 428 foundation, as well as other worthy local causes.
All of them are interested in accumulating capital that can be pooled and used to fund important local projects and their work will only become more important in the years to come, as the current financial crisis blooms into a way of life.
Many local projects could find themselves needing help if the current grant pools dry up, and if we are to continue building local projects, private giving may become more and more important.
There are a lot of important local attractions that have benefitted from private giving over the years and that importance is certain to be even greater in the decades to come.
— Chuck Smith