The Truman Lake Community Foundation recently recognized one of its founding board members.
Sandie Sorbo of Clinton will retire from the foundation’s board of directors in December. She joined the board in 1998 when the Henry County Foundation and the Step Into Tomorrow Foundation merged into a new organization.
Sorbo and her husband David attended the community foundation’s annual grant reception where she was honored with flowers and she and David received a lifetime membership to the Henry County Historical Society as a gift from the board.
During her tenure, Sorbo has served as board president and secretary. She said watching the impact of the grants the foundation has made in the communities it serves has been satisfying.
“Our first grant was to the Children’s Theatre at the DeLozier Building for its first sound system,” she said. “It was the only grant we made that year. Now, 26 years later, we’re giving out $80,000 to $85,000 in one year.”
The grants have supported a variety of organizations, from schools to churches to community outreach projects, Sorbo said. For example, one grant helped outfit the kitchen in a local building used for addiction recovery meetings.
“Our focus has always been to provide other organizations with grants for their needs to further their purposes,” she said.
Sorbo said that she believes the most significant project of the community foundation was the help it provided when the Clinton Elks Lodge building collapsed in 2006.
“We were able to facilitate a pass-through account for the Elks through Clinton Main Street that offered the entire community a tax-deductible way to make donations to replace the buildings,” she said. “We were able to fulfill a need in a profoundly impactful way.”
Although she will step away at the end of 2024, Sorbo predicts the community foundation will continue to remain viable in the Truman Lake area for years to come.
“Our grants can reach more kinds of folks,” she said. “We will keep growing and continuing to support rural organizations that otherwise wouldn’t have a chance.”
