The Shelby Foundation is doing it again…. awarding another large grant to the local YMCA. Thanks to the Paul D. Champion Fund of The Shelby Foundation, an $80,000 grant, to be paid over the next four years, was pledged to assist the Shelby YMCA make their capital campaign goal.
The Paul D. Champion Fund was established to help the community that meant so much to Mr. Champion. He was a simple man with simple needs. A farmer and an accomplished welder, Mr. Champion worked for Thompson Aircraft in Cleveland during and after World War II and later returned to the Shelby area to care for his parents. After returning, he farmed for the remainder of his life. Upon his passing, he bequeathed The Shelby Foundation with a large portion of his estate because he wanted to help the community that meant so much to him. knew the Foundation would manage the funds wisely and make distributions to benefit Shelby at the same time.
A donor-advised fund is a program of a public charity that allows donors to make contributions to a charity, such as The Shelby Foundation, and make recommendations for distributing the funds to qualified nonprofit organizations. In Mr. Champion’s case, his recommendations were to help the community he loved, especially with agricultural needs. Since his fund was established, grants totally over $150,000 have been awarded to Shelby Help Line’s Capital Campaign to erect the much larger building, Shelby Senior High FFA agriculture barn, and now the Shelby YMCA.
Carrie Kemerer, director, said, “For a community this size, it is impressive to see the magnitude of donor-advised grants. I have no doubt Mr. Champion would be a very proud man if he was able to see what he is accomplishing through The Shelby Foundation but then again, that’s why he left his money with the Foundation, knowing things like this would happen.”