Members of WLDS/WEAI and local Country Financial offices presented $2,000 to three community service organizations in Morgan County yesterday at the Cass-Morgan Farm Bureau offices.
The Morgan County MADD chapter, Camp Courage and New Directions Heating and Cooling Center received an even portion of the money raised from the playing of the 43rd Annual Country Financial West Central Illinois Boys’ All-Star Classic at the Bowl in March.
Camp Courage Co-Director John Hunter says that it’s one of the bigger community donations they have received for their annual programming: “The intentions for the money is to be spent on camper fees and/or supplies that are necessary to Camp Courage running. It’s always appreciated when we get donations like this. It helps us to keep going. We’ve been going for 47 years now, so it’s nice to be able to continue to do this nice tradition. This is a nice donation. It ranks up there as probably one of the higher donations we get.”
Co-Founder of the Morgan County MADD Chapter George Murphy says the donation will fill a gap in their funding that was cut off due to Covid-19: “When the Covid hit, we relied on some support funding from our national office in Texas. When Covid hit, of course, everybody took a hit – not only our MADD organization but as you know, all across the country. We have not received any support money-wise, funding from our national office since the Covid has taken its toll on the world. With this money from the All Star Basketball Classic, we’re able to keep our mission going of trying to stop impaired driving and support victims especially, and also prevent underage drinking.”
WLDS/WEAI Station Owners Gary Scott and Mark Whalen thanked the community for their support in keeping the tradition of the All Star Classic going after some time off due to the pandemic.