{"id":82278,"date":"2024-10-11T14:49:25","date_gmt":"2024-10-11T19:49:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/?p=82278"},"modified":"2024-10-11T14:49:26","modified_gmt":"2024-10-11T19:49:26","slug":"community-gives-back-through-give-fest","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/?p=82278","title":{"rendered":"Community gives back through Give Fest"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>By RORY MOORE<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Tiger Media Network<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Heartland Community Foundation organized the first annual Give Fest on Thursday inside the Strand in Downtown Hays. As part of a community giving day, the event saw multiple non-profit organizations and city government departments participate in raising funds for various charitable causes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Sarah Meitner, executive director of the foundation, led the effort to dedicate the day to giving back.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWe wanted to have a community giving day to encourage charitable giving to some of our local non-profit organizations by making a match pool available to incentivize giving,\u201d she said. \u201cWe\u2019re helping to grow their permanent endowed funds and give them money that they can use for immediate needs.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-jetpack-slideshow aligncenter\" data-effect=\"slide\"><div class=\"wp-block-jetpack-slideshow_container swiper-container\"><ul class=\"wp-block-jetpack-slideshow_swiper-wrapper swiper-wrapper\"><li class=\"wp-block-jetpack-slideshow_slide swiper-slide\"><figure><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"790\" height=\"501\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-block-jetpack-slideshow_image wp-image-82283\" data-id=\"82283\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/tigermedianet.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Give-Fest-003.jpg?resize=790%2C501\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/tigermedianet.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Give-Fest-003.jpg?resize=1024%2C650&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/tigermedianet.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Give-Fest-003.jpg?resize=370%2C235&amp;ssl=1 370w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/tigermedianet.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Give-Fest-003.jpg?resize=150%2C95&amp;ssl=1 150w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/tigermedianet.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Give-Fest-003.jpg?resize=768%2C488&amp;ssl=1 768w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/tigermedianet.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Give-Fest-003.jpg?w=1236&amp;ssl=1 1236w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 790px) 100vw, 790px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-block-jetpack-slideshow_caption gallery-caption\">Volunteers from United Way watch a wheel spin to determine a prize.\n<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/li><li class=\"wp-block-jetpack-slideshow_slide swiper-slide\"><figure><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"735\" height=\"785\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-block-jetpack-slideshow_image wp-image-82284\" data-id=\"82284\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/tigermedianet.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Give-Fest-002.jpg?resize=735%2C785\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/tigermedianet.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Give-Fest-002.jpg?w=735&amp;ssl=1 735w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/tigermedianet.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Give-Fest-002.jpg?resize=243%2C260&amp;ssl=1 243w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/tigermedianet.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Give-Fest-002.jpg?resize=140%2C150&amp;ssl=1 140w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 735px) 100vw, 735px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-block-jetpack-slideshow_caption gallery-caption\">Fifth graders stopped by the event to help raise funds.\n<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/li><li class=\"wp-block-jetpack-slideshow_slide swiper-slide\"><figure><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"790\" height=\"578\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-block-jetpack-slideshow_image wp-image-82281\" data-id=\"82281\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/tigermedianet.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Give-Fest-005.jpg?resize=790%2C578\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/tigermedianet.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Give-Fest-005.jpg?resize=1024%2C749&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/tigermedianet.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Give-Fest-005.jpg?resize=356%2C260&amp;ssl=1 356w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/tigermedianet.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Give-Fest-005.jpg?resize=150%2C110&amp;ssl=1 150w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/tigermedianet.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Give-Fest-005.jpg?resize=768%2C561&amp;ssl=1 768w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/tigermedianet.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Give-Fest-005.jpg?w=1071&amp;ssl=1 1071w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 790px) 100vw, 790px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-block-jetpack-slideshow_caption gallery-caption\">Members of the Youth Action Council play Cornhole.\n<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/li><li class=\"wp-block-jetpack-slideshow_slide swiper-slide\"><figure><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"790\" height=\"746\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-block-jetpack-slideshow_image wp-image-82282\" data-id=\"82282\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/tigermedianet.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Give-Fest-004.jpg?resize=790%2C746\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/tigermedianet.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Give-Fest-004.jpg?w=828&amp;ssl=1 828w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/tigermedianet.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Give-Fest-004.jpg?resize=275%2C260&amp;ssl=1 275w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/tigermedianet.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Give-Fest-004.jpg?resize=150%2C142&amp;ssl=1 150w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/tigermedianet.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Give-Fest-004.jpg?resize=768%2C725&amp;ssl=1 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 790px) 100vw, 790px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-block-jetpack-slideshow_caption gallery-caption\">Sarah Meitner, Executive Director of the Heartland Community Foundation, checks people in.\n<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/li><li class=\"wp-block-jetpack-slideshow_slide swiper-slide\"><figure><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"790\" height=\"387\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-block-jetpack-slideshow_image wp-image-82280\" data-id=\"82280\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/tigermedianet.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Give-Fest-006.jpg?resize=790%2C387\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/tigermedianet.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Give-Fest-006.jpg?resize=1024%2C501&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/tigermedianet.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Give-Fest-006.jpg?resize=370%2C181&amp;ssl=1 370w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/tigermedianet.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Give-Fest-006.jpg?resize=150%2C73&amp;ssl=1 150w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/tigermedianet.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Give-Fest-006.jpg?resize=768%2C376&amp;ssl=1 768w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/tigermedianet.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Give-Fest-006.jpg?resize=1536%2C752&amp;ssl=1 1536w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/tigermedianet.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Give-Fest-006.jpg?w=1596&amp;ssl=1 1596w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 790px) 100vw, 790px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-block-jetpack-slideshow_caption gallery-caption\">Hays Fire Department Chief Ryan Hagans hands a fire safety guide to a young event goer.\n<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/li><li class=\"wp-block-jetpack-slideshow_slide swiper-slide\"><figure><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"790\" height=\"343\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-block-jetpack-slideshow_image wp-image-82279\" data-id=\"82279\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/tigermedianet.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Give-Fest-001.jpg?resize=790%2C343\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/tigermedianet.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Give-Fest-001.jpg?resize=1024%2C445&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/tigermedianet.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Give-Fest-001.jpg?resize=370%2C161&amp;ssl=1 370w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/tigermedianet.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Give-Fest-001.jpg?resize=150%2C65&amp;ssl=1 150w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/tigermedianet.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Give-Fest-001.jpg?resize=768%2C334&amp;ssl=1 768w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/tigermedianet.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Give-Fest-001.jpg?resize=1536%2C668&amp;ssl=1 1536w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/tigermedianet.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Give-Fest-001.jpg?w=1806&amp;ssl=1 1806w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 790px) 100vw, 790px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-block-jetpack-slideshow_caption gallery-caption\">A community giving day is hosted by the Heartland Community Foundation at the Strand for Give Fest.\n<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/li><\/ul><a class=\"wp-block-jetpack-slideshow_button-prev swiper-button-prev swiper-button-white\" role=\"button\"><\/a><a class=\"wp-block-jetpack-slideshow_button-next swiper-button-next swiper-button-white\" role=\"button\"><\/a><a aria-label=\"Pause Slideshow\" class=\"wp-block-jetpack-slideshow_button-pause\" role=\"button\"><\/a><div class=\"wp-block-jetpack-slideshow_pagination swiper-pagination swiper-pagination-white\"><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>The idea of having a community giving day in Hays was on the foundation\u2019s agenda for a long time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019ve wanted to do one for a while,\u201d Meitner said. \u201cWe were able to use some money that came from the Patterson Family Foundation to help strengthen our math pool and have enough to do a match day.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Meitner hopes that sharing this cause with others will raise as many funds as possible for the non-profits she hosts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWe were up almost at $95,000 for the day,\u201d she said. \u201cSo, hopefully, that trend continues. The match pool we made available is $150,000. We want to raise at least that so we can dollar-for-dollar match all of the gifts that have come in. So, anything that is raised beyond that $150,000 is also going to receive match dollars. It\u2019s going to be proportionate to what\u2019s raised. We want to make sure everybody gets their fair share of the pot.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Aside from raising funds for charity, Meitner wants to inspire people to do their part in helping.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cEncouraging philanthropy and charitable giving is important,\u201d she said. \u201cWe want people to get in that mindset that it\u2019s up to all of us to do our part, to help our organizations, but we\u2019re also educating that community and the young people coming through about what these non-profits do and who they\u2019re serving. If we can model and show them that, then maybe we\u2019ll plant seeds that they\u2019ll take with them later.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By RORY MOORE Tiger Media Network The Heartland Community Foundation organized the first annual Give Fest on Thursday inside the Strand in Downtown Hays. As&hellip; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":142,"featured_media":82285,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":false,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3397,11],"tags":[15913,13823,15700],"class_list":["post-82278","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-area-news","category-news","tag-give-day","tag-heartland-community-foundation","tag-rory-moore"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/tigermedianet.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Give-Fest-001-1-e1728676041108.jpg?fit=1228%2C785&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82278","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/142"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=82278"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82278\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":82287,"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82278\/revisions\/82287"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/82285"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=82278"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=82278"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=82278"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}