Latest News – May 4

St George’s Community Meals Receives Climax Grant

The Freeport-McMoRan Foundation has announced that the 2017 Climax Area Community Investment Fund grant recipients have been selected. A total of $240,000 was awarded to seven nonprofit organizations from three counties – Lake, Summit, and Chaffee. Recipients were recognized and received their monetary awards at a presentation held yesterday, May 3 in Leadville.

St. George Church has received a $25,000 Climax Community Investment grant to remodel the kitchen used for their Community Meal Program. Photo: Leadville Today

The Climax Area Community Investment Fund was established in 2011 to focus on programs and projects that help create sustainability and reduce dependency on any single industry. Eligible programs and projects include those in the areas of education, community and economic development, environmental stewardship and health and wellness. For an overview of their giving since 2012, connect HERE.

A committee comprised of community leaders representing diverse organizations and two FreeportMcMoRan representatives governs the Fund. The community leaders were selected by the Climax Area Community Partnership Panel, a stakeholder engagement process established by Freeport-McMoRan in 2008 to foster open and ongoing dialogue with the community, allowing the company and the community to work together to develop thoughtful solutions that address community issues. The 2017 grant recipients include:

Saint George Community Meals – $25,000 Kitchen Upgrade and Organizational Sustainability The Free Community Meals and Food Pantry at St. George Episcopal Mission serves a hot meal, six days a week to those most vulnerable in Leadville. Funding will support the installation of new flooring and commercial grade kitchen appliances to meet necessary health code requirements. Part of the grant will also provide capacity support to help develop a diversified funding strategy in response to the loss of a consistent funding source.

National Mining Hall of Fame and Museum – $13,500 Matchless Mine Headframe Rehabilitation The National Mining Hall of Fame and Museum and HistoriCorps will partner to rehabilitate the Matchless Mine’s headframe, thus maintaining the historic site’s cultural tourism appeal. The project will have positive economic impact on Lake County by supporting tourism development and increasing revenue from local jobs that depend on travel spending.

The National Mining Museum will use its Climax Community Investment fund to rehabilitate the head frame at the Matchless Mine, a popular tourist attraction.

Tabor Opera House Preservation Foundation, Inc. – $50,000 Tabor Opera House Investment in a heating system in the performance space lets the Tabor Opera House operate year-round. The ability to offer additional performances, as well as making the facility available for community events, allows Tabor Opera House to drive toward organizational sustainability while also enriching Leadville culturally and attracting new tourism dollars.

Freeport-McMoRan 2 Heart of the Rockies Regional Medical Center – $41,500 Improving Access to Quality Care to Prevent Diabetes in Chaffee and Lake Counties Funding will support a unique partnership between Heart of the Rockies Regional Medical Center in Chaffee County and St. Vincent Hospital in Lake County to implement a nationally recognized, 5-year regional diabetes prevention program that builds the capacity of at-risk community members to prevent the disease. Improved access to quality healthcare and specialists will decrease the unhealthy behaviors that cause this preventable disease and improve the availability of fitness, nutrition and other health education in the region.

Chaffee Housing Trust – $20,000 The Permanent Affordability Home Ownership Project Funding will address the need for attainable housing in the region by creating permanently affordable homes for low-income families, sustainably holding those homes in trust for the benefit of current and future generations, as well as the community and the local economy.

Summit Community Care Clinic – $60,000 SCCC School Based Behavioral Health Services In 2015, Summit Community Care Clinic established a School Based Health Center (SBHC) in Leadville. Since opening, Leadville’s SBHC has been at capacity for behavioral health services. This Community Investment Fund grant will allow the Leadville SBHC to provide increased access to essential behavioral health services for Lake County School District students and their families, thus improving the overall health of the community.

Town of Poncha Springs – $30,000 Poncha Springs Water Infrastructure Improvement Project The Town of Poncha Springs’ water distribution system is currently operating at capacity. Investment in this project, which will provide a sufficient and reliable water source, puts the Town on track to meet the need of current residents while also providing the necessary infrastructure for future development in Chaffee County.

A total of $240,000 was awarded from the Climax Community Investment Fund to seven nonprofit organizations from three counties – Lake, Summit, and Chaffee. The recipients are: Chaffee Housing Trust, Saint George Community Meals, Heart of the Rockies Regional Medical Center, National Mining Hall of Fame and Museum, Summit Community Care Clinic, Tabor Opera House Preservation Foundation, Inc., Town of Poncha Springs. Photo: Leadville Today/Cooper Hudson

“Through the Climax-Area Community Investment Fund, our goal is to enable the community to adapt to meet the social and economic needs of its residents, becoming increasingly sustainable over time,” said Tracy Bame, President, Freeport-McMoRan Foundation. “We are pleased to be a partner in supporting processes and activities that assist in creating a vision for the future, establishing action plans, and implementing the kinds of programs and initiatives that will help the community reach its goals. The projects supported through the CIF represent the path to a viable future and we thank the engaged community leaders, members and nonprofits who are working to create successful, sustainable communities.”

Information about Freeport-McMoRan community investments and programs may be obtained by visiting FreeportInMyCommunity.com. For a complete overview of the CIF giving, CLICK HERE.