Impact awards surpass $500,000; Oakwood ambassador class announced

Jennifer Bailey, Commercial-News, Danville, Ill.
·3 min read

Mar. 22—With this year's $120,000 in Community Impact Awards to 19 Vermilion County schools and organizations and establishing the Ron Crick Memorial Scholarship, Balloons Over Vermilion and the Festival of Trees have now given about $535,000 in grant funds.

The milestone of surpassing a half million dollars is after seven years of bringing balloons back to Vermilion County and three years of hosting Festival of Trees. The grant awards support and nurture children in a variety of ways.

The award recipients: $1,000 to Birth to Five Illinois; $1,500 to Balloon Federation of America for summer camps; $2,000 each to Danville Municipal Band and Keep Vermilion County Beautiful; $2,500 each to Schlarman Academy outgoing ambassador class and Vermilion Valley Fellowship of Christian Athletes; $3,000 to Westville Santas Anonymous; $4,000 to Danville AMBUCS for Super Soccer program; $5,000 to STEP Recovery Center; $5,500 to Fair Hope Children's Ministry; $6,000 each to Vermilion County War Museum, United Way of Danville Area Inc., American Legion Youth Baseball, Oakwood Grade School for playground equipment, Winterview Youth League for litter receptacles and Oakwood Area Food Pantry which is serving 50 families currently with Bags of Hope (food for students and their families), and Easter meals coming up; $7,500 each to Project Success of Vermilion County for more hours its Salt Fork program and Roxy's House for therapy with animals; and $20,000 each to OSF Sacred Heart Medical Center for 33 more rooms to be renovated in Phase 2 on the fourth floor of the Danville hospital, and also the new Ron Crick Memorial Scholarship at Danville Area Community College. Crick was event chair when Balloon Classic started around 1988.

The War Museum's Larry Weatherford said the museum's money will be used for a new children's area, videos and be given to schools to bring more students on field trips to the war museum.

Weatherford said Vermilion County has always been a volunteer county.

"During the American Civil War, our county had the highest per capita volunteer rate of any county in the entire state," he said. "And I think we continue that volunteerism through the years in most everything we do."

Wendy Lambert with STEP Recovery Center said their organization's money will go toward the youth recovery program and Alateen meetings which have just started.

Angie Lazzell with United Way said they're trying to reach 65 percent of eligible children, up to age 5, in Vermilion County with free books once a month through the Dolly Parton Imagination Library. This area is currently at 25 percent. There have been 500 new signups in recent months.

Also announced at the Community Impact Awards ceremony Thursday at the Fischer Theatre was the new 2024 Student Host Ambassadors of Tiffany Johnson's fourth grade Oakwood Grade School class.

Johnson said she and the students are excited for the upcoming Balloons Over Vermilion event in July and related activities.