The Senior Center, now closed, endowed money from the sale of its building to the Lehigh City Parks Endowment for maintenence and beautification of the local park.
?This money is to be used to benefit the people of the Lehigh community, especially the older people,? said Ted McIrvin, former Senior Center president.
Calling it a ?big relief? to find an answer for what to do with the $20,096 from the building sale, McIrvin called HCF the ?vehicle we are riding on.?
As a designated endowment, only the net income?no principal?can be regularly disbursed for park improvements. As an open fund endowment, other contributions can be made to the fund by contacting HCF.
?The Lehigh Senior Center citizens designated for a specific purpose, and it will continue that way as long as that entity exists as far as the Lehigh City Park,? said Mike Kleiber, HCF chairman.
The HCF, an affiliate of Newton Community and Healthcare Foundation Inc., has five categories of endowment funds to assist in providing resources for a broad range of existing and future charitable needs in Hillsboro and the surrounding area.
Contributions can be made to the following types of endowments: unrestricted fund, field of interest fund, designated fund, agency endowment designated funds and donor advised fund.
?What?s nice about the Lehigh (endowment) is that it will show people how an endowment can work within the community,? Kleiber said.
In recent years, GNCF investments have averaged a 10 to 12 percent annual return, allowing endowments to fund objectives and reinvest excess earnings.
?That?s typically what an endowment is,? Kleiber said. ?What is a little different about the Lehigh foundation is they chose to only give 2.5 percent out as an endowment grant to the city.
?Most of the endowments are gifted out at 5 percent per year, but they chose to be more conservative, so what happens is those extra dollars that come back in interest are just added back into the endowment to make it larger.?
Because of that return, McIrvin said it?s time for practical short-term plans and long-term dreams and goals on the part of the Lehigh City Council.
?It blows my mind when I look at this down the road,? McIrvin said. ?I say dream big, the sky is the limit.?
Assisting Hillsboro and neighboring communities to reach goals and dreams is part of the purpose of HCF, according to Kleiber.
?We?re excited that the Community Foundation can be the vehicle for this (Lehigh) endowment,? he said. ?We?re really excited it?s coming from outside of the city limits of Hillsboro.
?This is truly a community foundation and we really have the vision that areas outside of Hillsboro will utilize the foundation, also. That?s one of our hopes.?
