Impact 100 Ozark invests $49k in Christian County nonprofits to drive community growth
CHRISTIAN COUNTY, Mo. (KY3) – Impact 100 Ozark is stepping up to support nonprofits across the Ozarks, funding projects in Christian County with the goal of strengthening the community.
“The goal of the department is just to serve the community and be available whenever anybody needs some help.”
This year, Impact 100 Ozark decided to give out $49,000 to help others in the area, and the Ozark Fire Protection District took the opportunity.
For first responders, every second counts when getting to an emergency. The Ozark Fire Protection District noticed a critical gap in their equipment—AEDs, the life-saving devices that can make all the difference for someone in cardiac arrest.
“We had asked to purchase seven AEDs, automatic external defibrillators to add to our apparatus, or our trucks. A lot of our staff vehicles didn’t have them. The budget can be tight, and everything is already set to operational funds for use. Sometimes it’s hard to get that money through the tax process,” said Fire Chief Jeff Owens.
Chief Owens says responding to a cardiac arrest is all about timing; almost every second counts.
“With the cardiac arrest, you have very few, few minutes to get that to stop or to get that heart started back up again. So the quicker we can respond to that house, commercial, building, whatever, and get that AED to them and start CPR, the better,” said Chief Owens.
But Ozark Fire wasn’t the only one receiving a big check. Children’s Smile Center in Ozark was awarded $35,000.
As Christian County grows, health leaders there say so does the number of children in need of care, especially among low-income families.
They say that with a shortage of Medicaid providers for kids in Missouri, the nonprofit dental clinic is stepping in as the primary provider across six counties, filling a critical gap in care.
“While our population is low income and our primary source of revenue is Medicaid. Low-income families and children are assumed to be cared for in substandard or less, and we want the opposite of that,” said Jackie Barger, executive director of Children’s Smile Center.
With the grant funding the dental clinic received – leaders say they’re planning to relocate and open an even bigger facility to serve Ozark.
KY3 did reach out to Impact 100 Ozark but did not hear back.
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