The Leo L. Livingston Fund added $38,000 in grants to local nonprofits this week.
The fund gave 14 hometown organizations $2,726 grants apiece during a ceremony Wednesday, April 17, at the Taylor Press office, 211 W. Third St.
The fund is administered by the Community Foundation of the Brazos Valley, which is in Bryan, and serves the Brazos Valley community and beyond.
“The importance of today’s event is to invest in important quality-of-life issues here within the Taylor community,” said Patricia
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It’s all about a legacy.”
- Patricia Gerling, president and CEO of the Community Foundation Gerling, president and CEO of the Community Foundation. “At the heartbeat of every thriving community are nonprofit organizations.”
The Livingston fund was established from a planned gift from the Doris and Leo Livingston estate.
According to a Livingston fund press release, Doris Livingston wanted to honor her late husband so that “his contributions to the Taylor community would live on forever in the lives of the Taylor community.”
“You can donate today, or you can do as the Livingstons did in making a legacy gift through your estate in a planned gift,” Gerling said. “That will be here forever to be treasured and continue to amplify in resources so that you are remembered forever. It’s all about a legacy of what you built within a community.”
St. Mary’s Catholic School, one of the recipients, requested the grant for “funding of sports equipment for new and existing sports in the Saintly Sports program.”
St. Mary’s Coach Rick Cobia described the gift from the Livingston Fund as a “blessing.”
“It’s going to come in handy for equipment, uniforms or just stuff kids need such as jump ropes, Frisbees and anything we’re short on,” Cobia said. “That money will help us tremendously.”
Five Taylor business leaders and civic leaders represent the interests of the community, review the annual grant applications and present recommendations regarding the distribution.
Committee members include Mark Schroeder, attorney and president of the Taylor Educational Enrichment Foundation; Stella Buzan, co-owner of the 74 Man Store; Ian Davis, co-owner of the Texas Beer Co.; Leslie Hill, former Taylor Area Businesswomen Woman of the Year; and Jason Hennington, area editor of the Taylor Press.
Hennington has since stepped down.
Since 2009, the Livingston Foundation has distributed 132 grants representing over $385,730 in donations to 34 Taylor nonprofits.
