Church Mutual® donation gets ball rolling for new foundation

MERRILL, Wis. - A new foundation has been created to provide funding support to benefit the Merrill community. Fundraising for Merrill Foundation, Inc., kicked off last week with the first donation of $25,000 from Church Mutual Insurance Company, S.I. (a stock insurer).

Beginning this year, Church Mutual has committed to making Merrill Foundation, Inc., its conduit for charitable giving to the Merrill community and will make regular contributions to the fund. CM CARES, the Church Mutual Insurance Company Foundation, will no longer be taking funding requests directly for Merrill area causes. Those requests should now be made through Merrill Foundation, Inc.

“We remain committed to supporting our hometown of Merrill and the surrounding area,” said Church Mutual President and CEO Rich Poirier. “Contributing to the Merrill Foundation will allow us to have the greatest impact in the community where many of our employees live and work.”

Merrill Foundation, Inc., is a nonprofit, tax-exempt philanthropic organization created to support programs in the greater Merrill area. The Foundation is organized exclusively for charitable, religious, educational and scientific purposes, including making distributions to local nonprofit organizations.

“People can donate to the Merrill Foundation and know the funds will be kept in the Merrill community to support local needs and enrichment opportunities,” said Merrill Foundation President Renea Frederick.

A local board of directors has been established and will meet monthly to make funding decisions and manage the foundation. Initial members of the board are Renea Frederick, Deb Moellendorf, Dan Hanson, Scott Reindl, Chris Grunenwald, Linda Semling Peterson, Jeremy Cordova, Greg Gill, Mike Grunenwald and Laura Huggins.

For information on contributing to the foundation or to apply for funding, please email merrillfoundationwi@gmail.com.

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