Aspiring to fulfill its mission to improve lives by helping and educating people, the Trust focused its major grantmaking in 2020 on whole community health, concentrating on the crucial areas of rural health and economic prosperity in underserved and displaced communities, primarily in the states of Florida, Kentucky, New York, and North Carolina.

Grants awarded in the area of Education, both Birth-12 and higher education, also took precedence. Programs for B-12 (children from birth through grade 12) encompassed a large area of support. Higher education funding support included student scholarships, program enhancement for infrastructures and technology, and funding for teachers and professors. Finally, arts and culture; and historic preservation, rounded out the Trust’s portfolio, with several grants serving a dual purpose of art positioned to educate children in underserved communities.

The year 2020 presented new challenges faced by grant partners due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Trust strived to provide a ray of light in the face of despair, awarding a number of grants on an emergency basis to support general operating costs and address the evolving needs of their communities during the crisis.