The first few years of the Foundation were very challenging for the board led by Gwen Milton.  They faced many challenges when trying to gain the support of the community and local government to help build the endowment fund, including competition for local donation dollars,  misconceptions about how a Community Foundation work, and broken promises.

To kick things off in 2002, the Milton Family created Fund, followed by the Hilborn and Hulbert Families in 2004, which allowed the Foundations Funds to reach over $130K by 2004.  A significant number of new donations/funds in 2006/2007

Their determination and tenacity laid the groundwork for the Foundation to continue to grow and gain community support resulting in the Foundation now having assets of roughly $1.5 M, almost 30 Funds and giving back, by the end of 2022, over $600K to the community.