By Hutchinson Tribune Staff
HUTCHINSON—The Hutchinson Community Foundation announced more than $180,000 in grants for community and economic development and strong organizations Thursday.
That includes 16 grants from the foundation’s Fund for Reno County made in its second impact cycle of 2025, as well as a Gift to Dream grant.
Hutch CF established the Gift to Dream grant in 2022 to support a nonprofit imagining what more is possible to better serve its mission. The previous year’s recipient selects the new year’s recipient from among applicants. National Alliance on Mental Illness Reno County was 2024’s recipient and selected Hutch In Harmony to receive the $2,500 grant this year.
Impact cycle 2 grants from the Fund for Reno County focused on community and economic development and strengthening nonprofit organizations.
Community and economic development grants included:
- Buhler Public Library, $8,000 for a wall mural and updated building awning.
- City of Hutchinson, $19,000 for murals, light pole banners and business-led projects.
- City of Plevna, $1,500 to replace a piece of playground equipment destroyed by a tornado.
- Food Bank of Reno County Inc., $27,320 to support communications and development as the food bank expands to a new facility to better serve the community.
- Foundation of Life Ministries, $18,906 for overnight and wraparound services for unhoused individuals as an extension of the local shelter.
- Hutchinson Friends of the Zoo Inc., $10,000 to support the addition of themed pedal boat rentals at the zoo.
- Hutchinson’s Historic Fox Theatre, $28,301 to support installation of a new boiler in the theater, helping ensure climate comfort year-round.
- Pretty Prairie Community Food Pantry Association, $25,000 to support the construction of a community space that will house the food pantry.
- StartUp Hutch, $9,000 to support workshops and coaching sessions for entrepreneurs across rural Reno County.
Strong organization grants included:
- Cancer Council of Reno County, $7,500 to support a strategic marketing project with the objective to take their 28 years of work into the future by aligning what they have done, what they continue to do, and what they aspire to do into a cohesive marketing plan.
- City of Sylvia, $2,580 for lightweight tables and chairs to replace dated, less mobile sets.
- Clothed in Compassion, $6,993 to provide supplies for Kitchen Hero Academy, a 10-week summer cooking course for middle-school students.
- Early Education Center Inc., $6,500 toward a strategic planning retreat for the education center.
- Kansas Food Bank Warehouse Inc., $5,000 to provide weekend food packs to food-insecure children in kindergarten through eighth grade in Reno County who may not have access to nutritious meals when school is not in session.
- Love Hutch Daily, $2,719 to support the purchase of a 15-passenger van to pick up students from area schools and deliver them to after-school care.
- Trinity United Methodist Church, $1,000 for materials and resources so that Circles Reno County can expand its community outreach.