Quick takes – March 17th

Closer to goal

Mark and Wendy Elwood, a Columbus couple, said last year that they would provide up to $500,000 in a matching grant campaign that lasts through the end of March to support substance abuse prevention programming as part of the community’s effort to tackle the local addition and opioid crisis.

Heritage Fund – the Community Foundation of Bartholomew County helped the community take a big step closer to the $1 million goal with a $40,000 grant to the initiative. The grant, both welcome and appreciated, left $123,257 to raise by March 31.

Local residents should consider helping in the final push to meet the overall goal. Doing so would provide great help for a great cause.

Donations can be accepted by phone (812-376-7772), online (heritagefundbc.org) or by mail (send a check to: Heritage Fund/Mark & Wendy Elwood Substance Abuse Prevention Fund, 538 Franklin St., Columbus, IN 47201).

Neat idea

The impact of Exhibit Columbus continues. Local high school and Ivy Tech students are creating a 201-foot mural at Northside Middle School to represent last year’s exhibition of 18 temporary installations around the city. The mural is expected to be in place by May.

The project, which started last semester, is a collaborative effort led by Robin Cain, a Columbus Area Career Connection teacher, and R. Lloyd Brooks, program chair of visual communication at Ivy Tech, and supported by a welcoming community grant from Heritage Fund — the Community Foundation of Bartholomew County.

This is a nice contribution to the community that will help highlight its architectural and design legacy, and add to the middle school’s visual atmosphere.

Quite a help

Talk about lending a hand. Columbus resident Garry Hoff, a lineman for Duke Energy, recently returned from Puerto Rico, where he was part of a 20-member Duke crew that volunteered to spend two months at the island nation restoring power.

Hurricanes Irma and Maria ravaged Puerto Rico within a two-week span late last summer. Duke’s and Hoff’s assistance was part of ongoing recovery efforts.

For Hoff, it was his third type of mission to help an area hit by disaster. He also helped in Florida after Hurricane Charley in 2004, and in the western Gulf Coast in 2005 after Hurricane Katrina. The latest efforts by Hoff and Duke Energy are additional good examples of how to help others.