Dienstberger Foundation gives $320,000

DAVE MOSIER/independent editor

DELPHOS — A number of Delphos non-profit organizations and city agencies received an early Christmas president because of one man’s wish to help his community when trustees of the Arnold M. Dienstberger Foundation gathered Tuesday evening to distribute a record $320,000 in grants. The total this year breaks a record of $305,000 set in 2011.

A total of 29 organizations and agencies were helped financially this year. Those include the Delphos Police and Delphos Fire and Rescue departments, Habitat for Humanity, the Delphos Area Chamber of Commerce, Delphos City and St. John’s school systems, the Optimist Club of Delphos, Delphos Rotary Club’s summer park concert series, Delphos Kiwanis Club, Delphos Canal Commission, local scouting organizations, Delphos Public Library and its Children’s Department, Delphos St. Vincent De Paul Society, Delphos Senior Citizens, Community Unity, Delphos Stadium Club, Community Health Professionals of Delphos, the Museum of Postal History, the Interfaith Thrift Shop, Marbletown Festival Committee, Delphos Fire Association, St. John’s and Delphos Jefferson Athletic Boosters, Delphos Community Christmas project and Delphos Ministerial Association.

Projects supported by the money include the Delphos Canal Days Festival, the high school all-weather track, Delphos Public Library material purchases, the Marbletown Festival, and upkeep of the Delphos swimming pool and Delphos Senior Center.

Master of Ceremonies Rick Miller, a past president of the foundation’s board, talked about the growth of the Dienstberger Foundation, which was created in 1997 with approximately $800,000 in assets and distributions totaling $62,000 in the first year. Today, the foundation has more than $6.5 million in assets and $320,000 in distributions.

In the past 15 years, Miller noted, the foundation has distributed more than $3 million, while several new funds were added to the foundation in the past year.

The money is more than dollars and cents to those organizations that receive it. Delphos Senior Citizens has maintained its senior center using funds from the foundation, while the community swimming pool, library and postal museum have all benefited from the distributions.

The largest distributions went to Delphos City and St. John’s schools, which each received $45,000. The Delphos Stadium Club was given $30,000 to help maintain the city’s football stadium, while Delphos Senior Citizens Inc. was given $25,000.

Other distributions are as follows: Optimist Club of Delphos, $5,000; Delphos Area Chamber of Commerce, $10,000; Delphos Fire and Rescue, $6,400; Community Unity, $2,000; Delphos Ministerial Association, $4,000; Delphos Habitat for Humanity, $5,000; Delphos Rotary Concert Series, $10,000; Marbletown Festival Committee, $1,000; Delphos Public Library-Children’s Department, $1,000; Museum of Postal History, $15,000; Delphos Fire Association, $300; Delphos Kiwanis Club, $9,000; Girls Scouts of Western Ohio, $500; St. John’s and Delphos Athletic Boosters Track Committee, $5,000; Community Health Professionals of Delphos, $5,000; Delphos Inter-Faith Thrift Shop, $10,000; Delphos Police Department, $15,000; City of Delphos (swimming pool), $22,000; Delphos Chamber/Canal Days, $1,000; Delphos Canal Commission $15,000; Delphos Public Library $14,000; Delphos St. Vincent de Paul Society, $5,000; Delphos Cub Scout Pack 42, $500; Boy Scout Troop 65, $500; Delphos Community Christmas Project, $12,800.