The Benton county PHIL held their annual meeting Tuesday, October 22 in the Cole Camp Senior Center. The evening was a time of fellowship and refreshments topped off with the awarding of $50,000 in grant money that benefits the youth of the county.
Suzie Chmelir Brodersen welcomed the attendees and spoke briefly about the overwhelming success of PHIL and its benefits to area residents. She reminisced that in 2023, the first year for PHIL the Cole Camp Swimming Pool received $25,000 for improvements and Lincoln received $15,000 for a walking path in the big park. The $10,000 grant went to the food bank for Buddy Packs. Following that first year PHIL retained 80% of the original members, proving they could see the value of the group.
Suzie then turned the meeting over to Dorcas Brethower, President of the Benton County Community Foundation. Dorcas spoke of the BCCF celebrating its 25th year of existence and her joy in PHIL giving $100,000 back to the communities in the past two years. She said, “In these divisive times its good to see so many working together for good.”
Ms. Brodersen shared the group had received thirteen grant applications that were narrowed down to six. Then membership voted to select the three finalist. The Lincoln Park Board received the $10,000 grant for a Lincoln Youth Baseball field. Amy Biggerstaff, a member of the Park Board, accepted the check.
The $15,000 check went to St Paul’s Church Daycare & Pre-school center. Janice Gerken accepted the check and shared the St Paul’s church had applied to the Patterson Family Grants and had been awarded a $150,000 grant to build a pre-school and Daycare center. St Paul’s has purchased land behind the church and hopes to have their building completed by 2026. Ms. Gerken stated, “This has long been a dream of St Paul’s and now it’s about to happen.” She shared St Paul’s has fifteen enrolled in the pre-school & Daycare center. It is overseen by Barb Metscher and they plan to use the $15,000 PHIL money for playground equipment.
The $25,000 grant check was awarded to the Salvation Army in Warsaw for their Summer Backpack program. The check was presented to Victoria McCollum. McCollum explained that during the summer they have approximately 350 children per week enrolled in the program. They provide pickup locations for the food packs in Fristoe, Edwards, Cole Camp, Lincoln and Warsaw. To make the packs of food for the kids, the cost is approximately $4,000 per week.
The Benton County PHIL wants to thank the Cole Camp Senior Center for the use of their facility. The Main Event for providing the black tablecloths. Rachel Wolf from Taxtron IaIt Services for assisting with the balloting, County Distributing for the donation of adult beverages and JRR & Co for preparing the Charcuterie Plates.
Just a friendly reminder PHIL is currently accepting the 2025 memberships for the next year giveaway.
