HCACF awards over $17k to community

The Hill City Area Community Foundation (HCACF) gave out over $17,000 in grants at its awards ceremony Feb. 23. This was the third award ceremony since the HCACF was started around October 2021. 

“Basically the premise is people can give money to the foundation, it becomes principal and the interest that it earns can be distributed in our community, here and in Keystone, for the betterment of the community, to improve everyone’s lives and to help all ranges of projects as long as they’re non-profits,” said HCACF president Melissa Rupert. “Every year we’re giving that money away, and the principle is never touched so it’s really a foundation that will never go away.” 

In three years, the foundation has raised $485,000 in principle. Rupert said this speaks to the generosity of the community. 

The first grant of $700 was accepted by Nathan Kveene, Family Life Pastor at Little White Church. Kveene said the money would help two youths go on a mission trip to Enid, Okla., to work with Forgotten Ministries, which does active outreach in the community and has a large homeless ministry. 

One student who went on this trip previously said, “It’s really always life-changing to see how blessed you are, and you really never think that it could be as bad as it is in the States. So it’s awesome to give to these less fortunate areas of our country and to pour into the children and to help with the adults in every way we can,” he said. 

Hill City Elementary School (HCES) received $1,200 to buy T-shirts for the 2024-25 Student of the Month Program. 

“We sure do appreciate this,” said HCES principal Samantha Weaver. “Every month we honor 12 elementary school students, kindergarten through fifth grade. We have different criteria each month that we look at. The teachers determine what students in their classroom follow these traits.” 

The criteria are responsible, accepting, neighborly, grow academically, encouraging, respectful and sportsmanship. Each student chosen for the program receives a T-shirt and a goody bag. 

Hill City Booster Club received $2,000 for projects. One need that keeps coming up is they have one popcorn maker and one cheese machine between the two concession stands. Currently, the equipment is being moved back and forth as needed. 

There is also no hot water at the football field so that will be added to offer hot chocolate and ciders for the football games this year. 

“We’re really going to tighten up our concession stands so we can hopefully really do this long term and really benefit our youth and our athletics,” said Alexis Ferguson. 

The Hill City Scholarship Foundation received a $1,000 grant. 

“We started the Hill City Scholarship Foundation in 2010, and it is a permanent endowment,” said Pat Wiederhold. “As of right now, there’s about $150,000 in it. It just generates scholarship money for high school kids or Hill City graduates.” 

Over the last 12 years, Wiederhold estimated that the foundation gave out between $75,000 and $100,000 in scholarships. 

 “It’s awesome to be able to give kids who are going on to continue their education a hand up with that,” Howard Schrier said.

The Hill City Arts Council received a grant for $930. 

“We’re really excited about this contribution. Thank you to the foundation (HCACF),” arts council president Kristie Van Bogart said. “We will purchase pro panels, which are panels that we use to hang art for the plein air project, and we are loaning them to the quilt show for the fiber arts as well so they go to good use.” 

Pastor Jeremy Duprey of Community Lutheran Church received a grant for $1,000. The church has an outdoor pavilion used for several things, and during the summer the congregation worships there.  

“It’s a place for people to gather, especially as they’re working in our community gardens, and we envision it being used for lots of things,” said Duprey. 

Right now the area beneath is dirt, but the church is looking to pour concrete sometime this summer.

“This will be a piece of that so we’re really thankful for your help in making that happen,” said Duprey. 

The Hill City Masons of Tin City Lodge No. 112 received a grant for $500. This grant was to go toward buying medals for its veterans program. 

The Masons also sponsor Books for Bikes, the Delta Dental Program and high school scholarships among other things. As of this year, they believe the Delta Dental Van has given out $280,000 in free dental work for over 300 children. 

“We just enjoy supporting our local community,” said Mason Kade McVey. 

One of the biggest grants of the evening went to the Heart of the Hills Quilters (HOHQ) for the amount of $3,000 as they take over the quilt show this year. 

The HOHQ now has 48 members, and the grant will help them start advertising for the 25th anniversary of the quilt show. 

The Hill City track program received a large grant to the tune of $2,935. 

Head coach Joe Noyes said, “We have a need for a timing system.” 

Noyes found one that will do times for distance runners and sprinters as well as distances for field events. 

“So this is a tool that we’ll be able to use someday when we host our first track meet,” he said. “It’s something that we’ll be able to use for the Run for the Rangers, which is money that goes to our senior track athletes as a scholarship. And it’s something that we’ll be able to use in little cross country meets that we host here locally.” 

Finally, Supporters for the Hill City Ambulance (SHCA) received a $4,000 grant. 

President of the SHCA Lori Comer said, “We are a non-profit that started about 15 months ago. To date, we have raised over $367,000. We are a small but mighty group.” 

Two hundred thousand of this went toward paying off the property. 

“We are so amazed by the generosity of this town because a lot of what we have left, $167,000, has been done with dollar raffle tickets. We’ve had some bigger donations, but Vicki always says we’re building it one doorknob at a time,” said Comer. 

The $4,000 went toward the demolition of the white house across from Krull’s Market. 

For more information on how to donate to the HCACF, go to hcacf.org. 

The South Dakota Community Foundation will provide $37,500 to the existing principal if the HCACF can raise $300,000 for the permanent endowment by Nov. 30, 2026. The challenges started Dec. 1, 2023.

“It’s a continuing trend with this town to be generous and help each other out,” said Rupert.