Lima Community Foundation executive director Robin Frazier hands Lima Rescue Mission executive director Chuck Ferguson a donation from the Copeland family at Thursday’s press conference in Town Square Park in Lima.
Jacob Espinosa | The Lima News
LIMA — An annual donation from a local family through the Lima Community Foundation will enable local organizations, such as Market Street Presbyterian Church, to plan ahead for events to help the community.
The foundation shared donations of $41,457 with the church, the Human Society of Allen County, Lima Rescue Mission and the Lima Salvation Army from an endowed fund started by the Warren A. and Mary E. Copeland Fund, the group announced Thursday at a press conference in Lima’s Town Square.
“We are so honored and privileged to carry out the Copeland family’s trust,” said Robin Frazier, executive director of the foundation. “They selected some organizations that make an impact in the community, and they want to make their donations last.”
Frazier said the donations will be an annual event with a similar total.
“That is just amazing,” Market Street Presbyterian Pastor Dottie Kaiser said. “We want to do things that help the community, and the Copelands have been members of our congregation since the late ’50s so the church mattered to them. We know that this is important because they were involved in the community, and our church wants to be involved in the community, too.”
The Copelands created the fund after daughter Karen Copeland Wilcox, a graduate of Lima Senior High, passed away in March 2023.
“One of the things we like to do is meet with members of the community so that they can create their own legacy,” Frazier said. “The Copelands had a list of organizations they wanted their annual distribution to go to so each year. Each of these organizations will receive a donation based on the amounts left in the fund. It should be similar to what they received this year, but this will go on as a memorial to the Copeland family where they can make sure their wishes are carried out perfectly.”
In an announcement, the foundation said the amount will be dependent on the performance of the fund’s market investments.
Reach Jacob Espinosa at 567-242-0399.
