The playground was described as an “ugly water-filled dusty playground.”  When it rained, the area couldn’t be used, and when it was dry, there was a lot of dust.  The school principal said he didn’t like to take a family new to Hillsboro out back on a tour and show them the playground.  He wondered what the parents would think seeing the clean school facilities and then looking out at the rusty merry-go-round and the dirt and mud.

In 2013, the two playground areas surrounding the Hillsboro Elementary School were in bad shape.  The Hillsboro Elementary School Site Council established a playground committee, comprised of parents, to plan fundraisers to pay for sprucing up and making some playground improvements.

Then it rained and the committee saw what it looked like.  The focus quickly went from a project of sprucing up to needing to do something about the surface material.  As the committee gathered more information, the scope of the project continued to evolve as one change led to another change required to remain in compliance with regulations.

This led to the decision that if they were going to raise money for the playgrounds, they needed to do it right.  What started as a project estimated to cost a few thousand dollars turned into a $185,000 project to replace the north playground in its entirety as well as all of the current surfacing on both playgrounds.

Faced with the prospect of needing to raise significantly more than the $8,000 already raised through soup suppers, farmers market meals and a carnival, the committee turned to other possible sources.

The first stop was the Hillsboro Community Foundation.  In October 2014, the playground committee presented the project at a meeting of the HCF Board, hoping to obtain around $5,000 from the Kansas Health Foundation Fund.

After hearing the presentation and seeing the efforts already made toward the project, the HCF Board decided to grant $25,750 through the Marga Ebel Health Fund and the Kansas Health Foundation Fund.  The grant would not only give the committee a great boost toward their goal, but a boost toward increasing the matching grant they could apply for from the Kansas Department of Health and Environment.

The KDHE grant program would match funds raised locally with state funding.  Applicants who got the grant had to show that they had done significant fundraising on their own.  The HCF grant helped provide momentum to the playground project and kicked off a larger fundraising campaign to raise local funds. 

In May 2015, KDHE awarded a $48,674 matching grant for the playground project.  Other non-matching funds were contributed to the project, mostly from the USD 410 Board of Education capital outlay fund, to reach the final $215,000 total cost.

Work on the playgrounds began immediately afterwards and was completed by the start of the new school year in 2015.  At the dedication ceremony, it was noted that the project had been a “truly community effort” that involved many contributions, both large and small.   

The decision behind the HCF grant illustrates the ongoing importance HCF boards have placed on health and recreation needs in the community over the years, and the role HCF can help play in obtaining matching grants from sources outside of the community

Relatively few people knew Marga Ebel during the years she lived in the Hillsboro community, but her estate gift of $388,000 to the Hillsboro Community Foundation has done a lot of good for local children in the years since her passing in 2009.

Her story is a classic example of surprising charitable impact: An elderly person with a spartan lifestyle and low profile who leaves behind a sizeable financial gift to benefit a good cause.  And Marga’s cause was to “make sure the kids have good health care.”

Marga moved to Hillsboro when she was in her teens. After earning a teaching degree from Tabor College, Marga taught school in Rose Hill and in other schools in Wichita.  She completed her teaching career at the Institute of Logopedics in Wichita (now operating as Heartspring). There she worked with disadvantaged and handicapped children, and understood very well about not having all the resources to take care of kids with needs.

Marga moved back to Hillsboro upon her retirement and formed a close friendship with Delores Dalke, former mayor and founding HCF board member.  When Marga expressed a desire to do something that would address local children’s health needs with the remainder of her estate, Delores introduced the community foundation as a way to help her dream become a reality.

To fulfill her dream, HCF formed a committee in 2011 of local people with knowledge about health needs of children in the area.  Representatives from Marion County Head Start, Families and Communities Together (FACT), Parents as Teachers, the USD 410 school district, and others met to discuss possible ways to use Marga’s endowment fund.

The committee determined that dental health was an issue that needed more attention and established the Marga Ebel Children’s Dental Program. The program provides dental care financial assistance for qualifying families of children attending USD 410 schools.  Earnings from her endowed fund have been used to support the dental program as well as other children health initiatives.

Vision combined with generosity can be a powerful thing.  It’s doubtful that Marga Ebel ever envisioned that her estate gift would lead to a dental-health program, but her vision for helping children improve their health will pay dividends for an untold number of kids and make an impact we may never fully realize.

Within six minutes of receiving a New Year’s Day alarm from Hillsboro Community Medical Center, trucks and firefighters from the Hillsboro Fire Department were on the scene.  A small blaze had apparently started spontaneously in the basement of the facility, just as patients, long-term care residents and staff were gathering for their first evening meal of 2006.

Fire Chief Ben Steketee was the first to arrive and soon found himself inside the boiler room staring straight at the problem.  Well, almost staring at it.  “All I could see was thick, black smoke,” Steketee said.

Additional firefighters arrived and entered the building armed with a fire hose and the thermal-imaging camera HFD had acquired the previous summer using funds gifted from the Hillsboro Community Foundation.

Unable to see the fire through the smoke, the firefighters used the thermal-imaging camera to pinpoint exactly where the fire was.  They were able to hit the hose stream right on the fire, even though they couldn’t see it with their eyes.  The fire was put out almost immediately.

As a result, the building suffered no structural damage from the accidental fire, and the residents and hospital patients were back in their rooms about three hours later.

The camera was the first gift to the Hillsboro-area community by the Hillsboro Community Foundation, created about two years previously.  The Foundation raised more than $10,000 toward the purchase of the camera for the fire department.

“Without that thermal-imaging camera, we don’t know if we would have a hospital,” said then-mayor Dolores Dalke.  “The foundation began its work of building for the future by providing a vehicle by which people can donate money or property to, and it will stay in our community.”

Kathy Decker, Keith Harder, and Raymond Wiebe

Growing up, Raymond Wiebe and his brother David developed a life-long passion for Mennonite and local history.  Their inspiration came from their father, David V. Wiebe, who devoted much of his time to collecting historical data, and writing and publishing books on early Mennonite settlements in Kansas.

In his adult years, David taught high school in several Kansas towns, but came back each summer from 1984 to 2002 while serving as Director of Museums for the City of Hillsboro. He passed away in 2011, leaving part of his estate to his brother Raymond. 

Raymond, a local historian and author, decided to use his portion of the estate to honor his brother and provide support for the Adobe House Museum and Hillsboro Museums Board.  In 2012, he donated $50,000 to the Hillsboro Community Foundation to endow the David F. Wiebe Memorial Fund for Hillsboro Pioneer Adobe House and Museum.

Earnings from the endowment may be used for museum exhibits, wages and staffing, marketing and promotion, and other projects.  It was Raymond’s hope that the fund will help ensure the future of the Adobe House Museum and preserve the history of the Mennonite culture for many years to come.

The Summer Food 4 Kids program is back for another year of providing summer lunches to children in the USD 410 District who receive free and reduced lunches.

The Hillsboro Community Foundation is proud to support this important program.  Since 2015, HCF has granted a total of $13,000 to Summer Food 4 Kids though its annual grant cycle process.  The grants have come from the Hillsboro Impact Fund and several health fund endowments managed by the HCF board.

Charitable programs such as Summer Food 4 Kids play a vital role in our community.  Providing financial assistance through the foundation is one way the pooled resources of HCF donors can help in building a better community.

Dental issues have been shown to have a clear connection with overall health.  The Marga Ebel Children’s Dental Program was formed in 2012 to help identify and address dental concerns in students of USD 410 schools.  The program is funded by the Marga Ebel Health Fund endowment held by the Hillsboro Community Foundation.

USD 410 provides dental screenings for students which identifies children needing professional attention.  Financial assistance is then made available through the Children’s Dental Program for qualifying families that may need help in covering the cost of dental services.

The program was developed by a committee of education and health care providers in the community, and is believed to be the first program of its kind among public schools in Kansas.

A total of $172,000 in grants have been issued from the Hillsboro Impact Fund by the Hillsboro Community Foundation since the first grants were awarded in 2008.

Local charity, youth, and educational programs have been the recipients of nearly two-thirds of the Impact Fund grant dollars.  Other programs receiving grants included those in senior living and care, city services, health and recreation, and arts and history.

The grants come from the investment earnings of the endowed fund, the balance of which continues to grow through new donations received each year.  These donations allow the Impact Fund to make a greater and increasing difference in our community, now and in the future.

The first endowment fund established through the Hillsboro Community Foundation was the Hillsboro Impact Fund.  The idea was to create a permanent source of investment earnings that could be distributed to charities and projects through an annual grant-making process.

To raise money for the fund, a community-wide campaign was begun in 2006 with a goal of $250,000.  By December 2007, contributions and pledges totaling more than $265,000 had been received from more than 100 donor households and businesses. 

The success of the Impact Fund campaign is a tribute to the generosity of the Hillsboro-area community and the desire to ensure that the well-being of the community will always remain a priority.