The Texoma Health Foundation held their annual Grateful Gathering on November 13. Over 100 people attended the event. Guests were able to dine on food from the Grayson College Culinary Department and listen to the Band on Grand, a band from Austin College.
It was held at Reba’s Ranch House in Denison and is an event that the foundation hosts to allow the grantors and grantees a chance to meet. It gave the grantees a chance to tell the grantors what their organizations do.
This year’s event was a little bit different than most because the foundation had a few announcements for the crowd. The first announcement was about their name change. The foundation’s name was changed from Texoma Health Foundation to Texoma Community Foundation.
They said that the only thing that has changed is the name, they still have the same mission and same values. The new name incorporates the community aspect of the organization.
The bigger news for the guests was yet to come. Heather Burrage, the Vice Chairman and Grants Chairman, shared the big news.
The Mackenzie Scott Foundation donated $6 million to TCF. With grantors matching the funds, that makes TCF on the road to receive $12 million. This is the largest donation the foundation has ever received.
Burrage said that $8 million of those funds will go to the regional area which consists of Bryan, Grayson, Fannin and Marshall Counties. The monies will help “advocate for needed policy changes impacting strategic plan goals, serve as a voice and partner to promote philanthropic giving in rural and tribal communities and continue to encourage increased philanthropy through Texoma Giving Partners.”
The remaining $4 million will be split up among the four counties, giving each county $1 million to use. Bryan County’s $1 million will go toward supporting and developing a Bryan County Collaborative with a focus on mental wellbeing, expanding mental wellbeing services in schools and supporting youth and families and increasing opportunities to strengthen social connections across the county.
Grayson County’s allocated funds is slotted to develop a Marshall County Collaborative with a focus on mental wellbeing, increase the number of nonprofits operating in the county, increase community and outdoor spaces for social connections and support school programming to increase well being; resiliency, hope and purpose in students.