Linda Yoder from the Marshall County Community Foundation stopped by the County Commissioners meeting Monday morning with some “unfinished business”. Yoder said, “On December 3rd 2020 the Community Foundation and United Way had a joint annual meeting. It seems like a long time ago, doesn’t it? It was 10 months into the pandemic, unprecedented pandemic, historic pandemic and what we did in that meeting was, we focused on celebrating community leadership.” She said they had representatives from the Indiana Philanthropy Alliance and Indiana United Way. We recognized CEO’s at the hospitals and local philanthropic leaders like John Oliver from US Granules. They even named their meeting rooms in his honor, both for the Community Foundation support and for United Way. She went on to say they recognized in memory Will and June Irwin and Jack Oliver from Oliver Ford Lincoln for all their support.
Two additional leaders were recognized as well. They were Kevin Overmyer and Ginny Monroe.
Yoder said they were recognized was based on the work they did for the Stellar nomination and the Stellar award which is bringing millions of dollars into the community. They created a quality-of-life plan with the team. During the pandemic Overmyer and Monroe rallied the Stellar team to create the Fund the Essentials fundraiser during the pandemic. They set a goal of $400,000 but they raised over $510,000 to help people meet their basic needs during the pandemic.
Yoder said their leadership continues as they prepare for the REDI grant proposals and all the opportunities that will unfold from here.
Linda Yoder, they spoke about Kevin Overmyer saying he had been a commissioner since 1999. He also serves on the Board of Directors of the Indiana Association of County Commissioners; he serves on the Board of Directors for the Associations of Indiana Counties, and he is on the MACOG Policy Board. Kevin is also on the South Bend Elkhart Regional Partnership Steering Committee, he’s been a member of the state 911 Board and the US 31 Coalition Board. Overmyer was the project leader for the Community Stellar application and is not the President of the Marshall County Crossroads Team and he is a community leader who is much admired and respected.
Yoder said Overmyer was the driving force bringing the Metro net to Marshall County. He also helped establish the Marshall County Economic Development Corporation.
Linda Yoder spoke about Ginny Monroe who is currently the Town Manager for the Town of Culver. She was formally the Community Development Manager with the Troyer Group. She served 12+ years on the Culver Town Council and 8 of them as President. Monroe also sits on the Culver Boys and Girls Club Board and was a member of the LIFT organization. This is a group of women in Culver. They lift up women through friendship and mentoring. She was on the team in Culver that was awarded a Stellar designation and brought her expertise to the County’s Stellar applications and designation.
Yoder went on to say, “These are two outstanding leaders. We were waiting for that time when we could all get together and have this big presentation with lots of people in the room. That sure isn’t happening for us yet in Marshall County but these awards say for Exemplary Leadership in forming the Marshall County Crossroad Team, Achieving the 2019 Indiana Stellar Designation and speaheading the creation of the Marshall County Quality of Life Plan.”
