Pawnee Rock named 'Most Generous City'

Susan Thacker, Great Bend Tribune, Kan.
·3 min read

Dec. 15—Pawnee Rock was named the Most Generous City of 2022 Thursday when the Golden Belt Community Foundation hosted its Great Charity Giveback and the Great Bend Chamber of Commerce Coffee.

The foundation just completed its ninth Giving Tuesday campaign, wrapping up and announcing the results at the coffee. This year over 1,000 gifts were made to support 104 local charitable organizations and endowment funds — raising a total of $288,512, according to GBCF Executive Director Christy Tustin.

The 2022 Top Ten Giving Tuesday organizations and funds raised are:

1 Prince of Peace Catholic Church $40,261.06

2 Barton County Historical Society $33,554.44

3 Holy Family School Endowment $15,706.44

4 GPS Kids Club Endowment $12,434.33

5 United Way of Central Kansas $11,141.47

6 Prairie Godmother Fund $9,697.04

7 Golden Belt Humane Society $8,003.75

8 Family Crisis Center Inc. $7,208.96

9 Community Food Bank of Barton County $7,104.66

10 Meals on Wheels of Barton County $6,567.80

Giving Tuesday

Giving Tuesday started as a day for anyone, anywhere to give, and it has grown into the biggest giving movement in the world, sponsors said. Giving Tuesday harnesses the generosity of millions of people around the world to support the causes they believe in and the communities in which they live. Celebrated on the Tuesday following U.S. Thanksgiving, Giving Tuesday inspires millions of people across the globe to show up and give back to causes and issues that matter to them.

"This year marked GBCF's ninth year to be a Giving Tuesday partner," said Mackenzie Mitchell, Development and Communications coordinator at the foundation, "and again this year we invited all charitable organizations in Barton, Pawnee, Rush and Stafford counties to participate."

This year there were four new organizations participating and four more have already stated their intent to join in 2023.

Representatives from each organization chose whether to get any gifts received as a grant back to their organization or to use the gifts to build their endowment fund at GBCF. About half of the organizations will receive the gifts as grants to be put to immediate use supporting a wide variety of missions and causes, Mitchell explained.

"Thank you for your support, participation, and spreading the word about Giving Tuesday," Tustin said. "Giving Tuesday couldn't happen without you."

Most Generous Community

This was the fourth year for the Most Generous City Award, which was calculated with gift totals by zip code per capita. Pawnee Rock received the 2022 Most Generous City award, and the foundation will make a grant of $1,000 to an organization or project in that community.

No community can win the award two years in a row and no community can win it more than two times, Mitchell said. Olmitz won the award in 2019 and 2021, with Great Bend winning in 2020.

In 2023 Giving Tuesday will be celebrated on Nov. 28.

For questions about Golden Belt Community Foundation or Giving Tuesday, contact the foundation at gbcf@goldenbeltcf.org or 620-792-3000.