Here For Somerset County
Notes from CFA Somerset County Director Lladel Lichty
The Somerset County Endowment has seen much success and support over the past year, as we reached our first $1 million raised.
This first milestone ensures long term, continued grant funding for Somerset County organizations that do their best work in their respective fields.
These organizations support our children, seniors, fire fighters, basic human needs, education, parks and trails, memorial sites, conservation, economic development, history, arts, and so much more.
Many new funds were opened this year. Two of them are unique funds, including a family’s longtime charitable giving in our community, and a second will breathe new life into (and protect) a historical site that will honor the past and give to the future.
The Riggs Family Foundation is now held and administered by the Community Foundation. The Riggs family has supported hundreds of projects all around the region for many years, thanks to the generosity of Bill and Dan Riggs, their families, and devoted employees through the Riggs Family Foundation. The next generation is honoring their fathers’ legacies and generosity, by fine-tuning and focusing their dollars to programs and organizations that make an impact in our community. They each value the community that their families have helped to build and support, and they recognize their part in moving that work forward. We are proud to work alongside them in that effort.
Ankeny Square Cemetery, located in the heart of uptown Somerset, is the resting place of Peter Ankeny, a key founder of Somerset. There are numerous American Revolution, War of 1812, Mexican War, and Civil War veterans buried there, as well as statesmen, Senators, House of Representative members, an Ambassador, Attorney General, Secretary of State, the great grandparents and grandparents of Amelia Earhart and many more—all interred before 1915. This was also the site of two major churches that each continue to flourish in Somerset.
Looking to the future, the current Ankeny Square board worked with the Community Foundation to petition the courts to turn over the site to the foundation to manage in perpetuity, and to help ensure the significance of that place so the physical site will not be lost. Again, we are proud to be entrusted with this work.
These are just two examples of what Somerset Countians do well. We look to the future considering what life will be like for generations to come, and we always look to the past to honor those who made this beautiful place home to the many hard-working individuals who live here, to the hundreds of thousands who call our county a second home on weekends, and to the millions of tourists who visit our county because of its preserved beauty, history, and the people who live here.
The Somerset County Endowments’ committed Advisory Board members and Grants Committee members are proud of our ability to focus on the needs of our community now, and through our efforts, forever. Find out more about how you can get involved at our Somerset County Page.