Man gives $100K to start fund for eastern Indiana hometown
HAGERSTOWN, Ind. (AP) – A man who moved away from his eastern Indiana hometown as a teenager has contributed $100,000 to start a new charitable fund for the community.
Max Brown said he’s kept in touch with his Hagerstown High School classmates from the Class of 1961 even though he moved away after his junior year of high school. He attended their 50th reunion in 2011 and began considering how to help the town after hearing the school’s current principal talk about the struggles faced by some students.
“He told us that it was not uncommon for the schools to have students who were hungry and not sure where they would sleep that night,” Brown told the (Richmond) Palladium-Item “It would have been unheard of in our childhood.”
Brown’s donation to start the Hagerstown Hometown Fund has been matched with $50,000 from the Indianapolis-based Lilly Endowment. It is expected to generate about $7,500 a year for grants to combat hunger, homelessness and domestic abuse as well as support education programs in the 2,000-person town about 50 miles east of Indianapolis.
Brown, who lives in Columbus, Ohio, and owned a newspaper and magazine company that he and his wife, Lenore, sold in 2007, said he’s confident the new fund within the Wayne County Foundation will gain additional contributions and grow.
Town Manager Christopher LaMar called the fund a wonderful opportunity for the community.
“We can benefit from that kind of assistance right now,” he said. “I’m looking forward to seeing what we’re able to do.”