Ameren donation powers $30,500 for six Cape Area nonprofits

The Community Foundation of the Ozarks and Ameren Corporation have awarded $30,500 to six nonprofit agencies affected by the COVID-19 pandemic in the Cape Girardeau region.

St. Louis-based Ameren donated a total of $111,000 to the CFO’s COVID-19 Response and Recovery Fund to support agencies in the shared service area of Ameren and the CFO’s network of 52 regional affiliates. Ameren employees and its board of directors contributed to its AmerenCares Power of Giving COVID-19 Relief Fund, which also is supporting agencies in Illinois and the St. Louis region.

The Ameren grants focus on agencies providing meal programs, transportation, childcare and mental health services related to the COVID-19 pandemic. In the area served by the Cape Area Community Foundation, an affiliate of the CFO, the grants were awarded to:

• Big Brothers Big Sisters of Eastern Missouri: $5,000 to support youth and student success.

• Cape Girardeau Public Schools Foundation: $7,500 to improve reading levels in students with reading deficiencies.

• Community Partnership of Southeast Missouri: $3,000 for its Emergency Assistance Relief Fund, which provides food, childcare and transportation assistance to clients.

• Discovery Playhouse: $7,500 to support the Playhouse Cupboard emergency food program.

• Humane Society of Southeast Missouri: $5,000 to support veterinary care for the pets of seniors and disabled individuals.

• Safe Families for Children: $2,500 to expand its volunteer network to serve families in crisis and mitigate situations in which children may be placed into foster care.

In all, $63,000 was awarded to agencies in Benton, Cape Girardeau, Gasconade and Howell counties focused on providing meal programs, transportation, childcare and mental-health services related to the COVID-19 pandemic. In a related program, the Community Foundation of the Lake, the CFO’s affiliate serving the Lake of the Ozarks region, awarded $48,000 to 12 nonprofits.

“This has been a great partnership opportunity with Ameren Corp.,” CFO President Brian Fogle said. “The company put its charitable dollars to work in the communities it serves by using our expertise in managing and granting out these generous resources.”

Ameren Corporation is a Fortune 500 company providing electric power to 2.4 million customers and natural gas service to more than 900,000 customers across 64,000 square miles in Missouri and Illinois. Ameren Missouri and Ameren Transmission Company are both based in St. Louis.

These grants bring the CFO’s total discretionary grantmaking for COVID-19 response and recovery to $2.06 million since March 2020. Total COVID-related grantmaking by the CFO, including grants from donor-advised and employee benevolence funds, is $3.14 million.

The Community Foundation of the Ozarks is a regional public charitable foundation serving 58 counties across central and southern Missouri through a network of donors, nonprofit partners and 52 regional affiliate foundations, including the Cape Area Community Foundation. The CFO holds assets of $310 million as of June 30, 2020.