The 9th annual Grow Green Match Day on Thursday, April 22, is a tremendous opportunity for the Manhattan community and Meadowlark Foundation. On that day, donations made through the Greater Manhattan Community Foundation to participating nonprofit agencies will receive a 50% match!  

Meadowlark Foundation is joining 69 other local organizations in urging our donors to participate. With COVID-19 turning our world upside down and organizations entering a period of recovery, GMCF is repeating the Grow Green procedures that were introduced in 2020:

•  There is no live event at Grow Green headquarters. Donors may mail a check, donate online with a credit card, or deliver a check on or before Match Day to the GMCF office, 2nd floor of the Colony Square office building on Poyntz.
• Donations will be made available to organizations for immediate needs, while the 50% match will go into endowed    funds. Prior to 2020, the reverse was true. Your donations went into our endowed fund managed by GMCF, enabling Meadowlark Foundation to continue to develop our services and meet the future needs of our campus and community. Previous matching totals have been received soon after the event and benefited the Good Samaritan Fund and, last year, Meadowlark’s COVID-19 Protection Plan.

Combined donations up to a total of $20,000 will be matched at 50%, giving a maximum of $10,000 in matching funds to any one organization.    

Gifts to Meadowlark Foundation, which appears as Meadowlark Hills on the Grow Green giving form and on GMCF’s website, will support scholarships for current Meadowlark employees who would like to further their education to become licensed practical nurses or registered nurses.

Now in its third year, Meadowlark’s scholarship program rewards the initiative of talented current employees, while, in the future, providing Meadowlark’s licensed care households with highly trained staff in what appears to be a perpetual nurses shortage. Employees who receive a scholarship agree to work at Meadowlark for at least two years following graduation.

This spring, Meadowlark would like to expand the program, offering smaller scholarships to students attending three local or area nursing schools and who aren’t current Meadowlark employees. These scholarship recipients must agree to work at Meadowlark for at least a year after receiving an LPN or RN degree.

Here’s how you may help us attract and retain nurses:
1. Visit  https://www.growgreenmanhattan.com/  to give online from 12:00 a.m. through 11:59 p.m. on Thursday, April 22. 

2. Or, write a check to Greater Manhattan Community Foundation. If Meadowlark Foundation is the only beneficiary of your gift, you may write “Grow Green-Meadowlark” on the memo line.

• Check writers, complete the giving form included on the last two pages of today’s Messenger, indicating the beneficiary/beneficiaries of your gift. (Meadowlark Hills is listed in the Basic Human Needs & Healthcare category.)
• Even if giving to more than one organization, write only one check for the total amount. The form you submit will indicate to GMCF how you’d like your gift divided.
• No matter the day a check is written, date it 4/22/2021 and mail it and the giving form on or before 4/22/2021. Checks must be dated 4/22/2021 and postmarked by April 22 to be included in the 2021 Match Day total.
• Mail to:  GMCF, P.O. Box 1127, Manhattan, KS, 66505-1127

3. Meadowlark residents may submit donations and donation forms to be delivered by Meadowlark Foundation in a bundle to GMCF. If you have a check and form to submit, please deliver to the Hospitality Desk by noon on Thursday, April 22.

Although gifts of any amount are welcome, individual contributions ranging from $25 to $1,000 per organization will receive a local match at $.50 per $1, so a $1,000 gift can receive a $500 local match! Gifts are tax-deductible; donors receive a receipt from GMCF.

If participation in last April’s event is any indication, the Nursing Scholarship Program is sure to make cents. During that 24-hour period, Meadowlark Foundation was one of 15 organizations receiving $20,000 or more, and so earned the maximum match amount of $10,000.

If you have questions, please contact Becky Fitzgerald, Development Director, at 323-3843. Thank you for considering this opportunity!