Love in Action banquet gives away $14k
Josey McPhail
Volunteer of the Year from the Republic Pregnancy Resource Center was Jessica Royal.
Volunteer of the Year from Kiwanis Club of Republic was Jessica Schultze.
Volunteer of the Year from M.A.M.A.S. was Bobbi Wells.
Volunteer of the Year from Pumpkin Daze was Jacque Wray.
Volunteers of the Year from People Helping People were Jennifer Young and Jim Young.
A $4,000 grant was awarded to People Helping People. The grant will go toward a pantry refill and funding for the Milk to my Plate program. The program allows People Helping People to purchase yogurt, cottage cheese and other dairy products at a reduced cost from Hiland Dairy to pass on to monthly clients. Dairy foods are often some of the most requested and least donated food items.
A $4,000 grant was awarded to the Greene County Library Republic Branch. The grant will go toward their community fridge program which provides fresh produce and books on how to best utilize the ingredients to citizens of Republic.
A $1,500 grant was awarded to the Republic School District social work department. The grant will be used to provide children with bed frames, hygiene products and shoes.
A $1,000 grant was awarded to Foster Adopt Connect in order to assist with their Sammy’s Window program. The program helps to supply children in the foster system with essential clothing and hygiene products.
A $1,000 grant was awarded to the Republic Ministerial Alliance. The grant will go to support their Neighbor Helping Neighbor program which provides utility assistance to Republic families.
A $1,000 grant was awarded to the Breast Cancer Foundation of The Ozarks. According to Mitchell, in 2025, three Republic families were approved to benefit from the program.
A $1,000 grant was awarded to Haven House. Haven House offers a place to stay while families are forced to travel for medical reasons. Last year, Haven House hosted 12 Republic families for a total of 19 nights, said Mitchell.
A $500 grant was awarded to the Republic Pregnancy Resource Center. This grant was to fund the RPRC baby wipes program which provides two packs of wipes per child, per month to those who are accepted.
A $500 grant was awarded to support the Republic Middle School Service Project. According to chamber director Mitchell, this project gets young learners involved in community oriented service projects. (Photos by Ethan Gray)
Volunteer of the Year from Community Kitchen of Republic was Terri O’Reilly.
McPhail honored as Volunteer of Year for dedication to Care to Learn program
Republic’s annual Love in Action Banquet took place last week, with members of the community coming together on Oct. 23 to give away $14,500 in grants to local organizations. Also during the festivities, the Republic Community Foundation awarded trophies to one member of each group in attendance that went above and beyond in their volunteer work.
Of those volunteers, one was selected to be the Volunteer of the Year, with that honor going to Republic School District’s Josey McPhail, for her efforts with Care to Learn, shown in the center of the photo at left.
Grants and awards were presented by Miki Medearis and Macy Mitchell, shown with McPhail. The banquet took place at Spring Creek Estates which was donated for use for the evening. Catering was donated by Arris’ Pizza. To see more photos from the event, turn to page 10.
Volunteers Brendon Bay, Republic Area Chamber of Commerce, and Kathy Ledbetter, Republic Historical Society, were not present.
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