Starke County Homelessness Grant Launches Community Support

A Targeted Grant for Local Needs

The Starke County Community Foundation (SCCF) announced a $2,500 grant to the Knox Conference of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul, based at St. Thomas Aquinas Parish. The grant is funded in part by the Hardesty Memorial Endowment Fund and Starke County Community Funds, and will support the conference's efforts to bring comfort and dignity to individuals experiencing homelessness in Starke County, Indiana.

What the Grant Funds

The volunteer-led St. Vincent de Paul group will use the grant to assemble comfort packs for individuals and families with nowhere else to turn. Each pack will include essential items such as:

• Food and non-perishable snacks
• Toiletries and personal care items
• Waterproof blankets
• Clean clothing
• Flashlights with batteries
• Tote bags or backpacks to carry supplies

Packs are distributed locally, often through church partners, law enforcement, and community organizations that encounter unhoused residents in the course of their work.

Why This Matters in Rural Indiana

Rural homelessness often looks different from its urban counterpart, with fewer visible encampments, limited shelter capacity, and large distances between service providers. Programs like the St. Vincent de Paul comfort packs help meet immediate needs of individuals who may be sleeping in cars, couch-surfing, or moving between temporary housing arrangements. For Starke County, where specialized shelters and outreach programs are limited, these grants fill an important gap.

About the Starke County Community Foundation

The Starke County Community Foundation is an affiliate of the Northern Indiana Community Foundation. SCCF has also received a separate $750,000 grant from Lilly Endowment Inc. through the Community Support Grant component of the ninth phase of Giving Indiana Funds for Tomorrow (GIFT IX) initiative. That Community Support Grant provides flexible funding that the foundation can use over up to three years to address compelling, near-term community needs, including projects like homelessness outreach.

The Role of Endowed Funds

The comfort pack grant was funded in part by the Hardesty Memorial Endowment Fund, one of several named endowments held at SCCF. Endowments allow donors to establish a permanent source of annual grant support for local causes, multiplying the impact of a single gift over many years. Combined with discretionary community funds, endowments give the foundation flexibility to respond to emerging needs.

How to Get Involved

Residents and organizations interested in supporting homelessness response in Starke County can contribute directly to SCCF, donate supplies to the Knox Conference of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul, or volunteer time assembling or distributing comfort packs. To learn more about the Starke County Community Foundation or to explore available grants, interested parties can contact SCCF Director of Development Jacque Ryan at 574-772-3665 or visit nicf.org.

Broader Implications

While $2,500 is a modest grant by national standards, it represents an important example of how small, well-targeted investments can meaningfully improve lives in rural counties. As Starke County and similar communities continue to face housing affordability pressures, community foundation grants like this one play a growing role in supplementing state and federal homelessness programs.