Cape Area Community Foundation

08/13/2026

It's Board Member Spotlight Time! Our next board member to introduce you to is Tameka Randle.

Tameka is a dedicated leader driving community development across Southeast Missouri. As CEO of the PORCH Initiative, she leads neighborhood revitalization and helps families achieve homeownership. She brings vital civic experience as a City of Cape Girardeau Councilwoman representing Ward 2, complemented by her position as a Commissioner for the Missouri Housing Development Commission, which provides a critical statewide perspective on housing policy.

Serving on the Board of Directors for the Cape Area Community Foundation, Randle leverages her multifaceted expertise across non-profit work, local government, and state policy to guide regional philanthropy and build a more resilient region.

08/08/2026

Proud to have Friends of the Cape Girardeau Public Library Foundation as one of our agency partners! Their upcoming book sale is a great way to support our public library … and find new treasures to add to your own library!

It's almost time to restock your TBR piles at the Friends Book Sale!

Save the date:
📚Thursday, August 20 – Friends members preview @ 6–8 PM
📚Friday, August 21 @ 6–8 PM
📚Saturday, August 22 @ 8 AM–5 PM
📚Sunday, August 23 @ 1–5 PM

Not a Friends member? Join online or at the door for VIP early access!
https://capelibrary.org/about/friends

07/16/2026

As a proponent of education in Cape Girardeau, Bollinger, and northern Scott counties, the Cape Area Community Foundation is pleased to provide a grant to Junior Achievement in Southeast Missouri this year.

For over a century, Junior Achievement has focused on helping young people understand business, citizenship, economics, entrepreneurship, ethics/character, financial literacy, and workforce readiness, including soft skills and career matching based on skills, interests, and values. Now more than ever, it is critical to inspire and prepare young people to succeed in a global economy.

Thanks to grants like ours, along with contributions from many other individuals and businesses throughout our region, Junior Achievement in Southeast Missouri is able to provide over 60 different programs with hands-on materials, online apps, and many other learning resources, to students from pre-K to 12th grade, all at no cost to the schools.

Pictured below are CACF Board members Stan Irwin, Katie Earnhart, Trudy Lee, Tameka Randle, and Laura Hatcher with Becki Arends from Junior Achievement in Southeast Missouri.

07/08/2026

One of the grants made during Cape Area Community Foundation's grant round in the spring of 2026 was to the Girl Scouts of the Missouri Heartland (GSMH), which serves 67 counties across southern and central Missouri, southeast Kansas, and northeast Oklahoma.

In 2025 GSMH began to develop school-based and community-based troop models to remove barriers to participation such as transportation, after-school supervision, and volunteer availability. This grant will assist in creating additional school-led Girl Scout troops within the Cape Girardeau School District during the upcoming 2026–2027 school year by supporting teacher/facilitator stipends, membership fees and uniform components for underserved participants, and program materials and badge supplies. GSMH programming for its troops includes leadership development, STEM exploration, outdoor skills, financial literacy, and community service.

Pictured below are CACF Board members Stan Irwin, Katie Earnhart, Tameka Randle, Trudy Lee, and Laura Hatcher with Erin Ragan from Girl Scouts of the Missouri Heartland.

07/02/2026

The Cape Area Community Foundation is pleased to support the Safe House of SE Missouri this year through a grant to assist survivors of domestic violence with attorney fees for civil matters, including orders of protection, divorce from an abusive partner, and child custody cases. Many survivors do not have the financial means to hire an attorney to represent them in these types of cases, leaving them with few options. To bridge this gap, Safe House of SE Missouri has created partnerships with two local attorneys to provide services to their clients at significantly reduced rates, and the CACF grant will be beneficial to clients who need assistance paying these attorneys fees.

Safe House of SE Missouri is a not-for-profit, 501(c)(3) domestic violence agency providing safe shelter, 24-hour crisis hotline services, intensive case management, counseling, court advocacy, referral services, and educational programs. Safe House provides residential services through its 10-bedroom confidentially-located shelter as well as nonresidential services through its outreach office, both located in the Cape Girardeau area.

Pictured below are CACF Board members Stan Irwin, Katie Earnhart, Tameka Randle, Trudy Lee, and Laura Hatcher with Kim Dixon and Jessie Green from the Safe House of SE Missouri.

06/23/2026

The Community Counseling Center Foundation has been one of CACF's agency partners since 2016 and is a recipient of a grant awarded during our most recent grant round.

The Community Counseling Center Foundation is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting the life-changing work of the Community Counseling Center, ensuring the sustainability and expansion of critical mental health and substance use disorder services across its five-county service area.

The CACF grant to the Community Counseling Center Foundation will help to expand and sustain the QPR (Question, Persuade, Refer) Su***de Prevention Training initiative. QPR is an evidence-based 'gatekeeper' curriculum that empowers everyday citizens to recognize su***de warning signs and lead a person in crisis to professional care. While the Center's clinical staff provides the expertise, this grant will cover the costs of training materials, participant booklets, resource cards, and the certification of additional staff instructors to keep this life-saving training free for all residents, businesses, and civic groups in the region.

Pictured below are CACF Board members Stan Irwin, Katie Earnhart, Trudy Lee, Tameka Randle, and Laura Hatcher with Michelle Ramsey, Executive Director of the Community Counseling Center Foundation.

06/12/2026

CACF is honored to partner with many amazing nonprofits serving our area. In the coming weeks, we will feature many of our agency partners and grant recipients to share the wonderful work they are doing in our region.

During our most recent grant round, we were pleased to support Matthew 10:8 Ministries, a faith-based nonprofit based in Scott City dedicated to demonstrating compassion through tangible acts of service, encouragement, and provision to individuals and families experiencing hardship. The ministry exists to meet practical needs while restoring dignity, hope, and emotional stability during difficult seasons of life. Through consistent outreach and personal engagement, the ministry seeks to bring comfort, restore hope, and remind individuals that they are seen, valued, and not alone.

CACF's grant will allow Matthew 10:8 Ministries to purchase and maintain essential inventory for its outreach closet, including new clothing, shoes, hygiene items, blankets, pillows, and personal care supplies. These items allow the ministry to respond immediately when individuals and families in the community experience crisis situations such as house fires, displacement, financial hardship, illness, or other unexpected emergencies.

Pictured below are CACF Board members Stan Irwin, Katie Earnhart, Tameka Randle, Trudy Lee, and Laura Hatcher with Kim Lewis and Rhonda Mirgaux from Matthew 10:8 Ministries.

06/09/2026

Board Member Spotlight: Today we highlight our current board vice chair, Katie Earnhart.

Katie Earnhart has called the Cape Girardeau area home since 2018. She moved to Southeast Missouri after being hired as the Director of the Cape Girardeau Public Library. Katie is a member of several local civic organizations and is active in the library profession at both the state and regional levels. She lives in Jackson with her husband and daughter.

Katie serves on the Board of Directors for the Cape Area Community Foundation because she recognizes the important role CACF plays in strengthening the region’s nonprofits and improving the quality of life throughout Southeast Missouri. Through her work at the library, she has seen firsthand how local nonprofits address critical community needs and create opportunities for residents of all ages. She values CACF’s ability to connect donors with causes they care about, provide long-term support for charitable organizations, and foster collaboration among community leaders. Katie believes that strong nonprofits are essential to a thriving community, and she is proud to support the Foundation’s mission of building permanent resources that benefit the Cape area for generations to come.

05/31/2026

Fantastic to see the coverage of our grant awards and the information shared about the community foundation and our grant recipients! Thank you FOX23!!

The Cape Area Community Foundation awarded grants Thursday to five regional nonprofits supporting everything from su***de prevention and domestic violence services to youth programs and financial literacy.💙

05/28/2026

The Cape Area Community Foundation has awarded five grants to nonprofit organizations through its 2026 annual grant round, distributing a total of $5,000 to support the work of these organizations. Members of our Board of Directors enjoyed a wonderful breakfast with our grant recipients to present the grant awards and learn more about their impact in communities throughout Cape Girardeau, Bollinger, and northern Scott counties.

During the coming weeks, we share more about each of these organizations and the difference these grants will have this year. Our 2026 grant recipients are Matthew 10:8 Ministries ($2000), the Safe House of Southeast Missouri ($1000), the Community Counseling Center Foundation ($1000), Girl Scouts of the Missouri Heartland ($500), and Junior Achievement of Southeast Missouri ($500).

Pictured in the group photo are (l-r) Judy Cantoni with Community Foundation of the Ozarks; CACF board members Stan Irwin, Laura Hatcher, Katie Earnhart, Trudy Lee, and Tameka Randle; Kim Lewis and Rhonda Mirgaux with Matthew 10:8 Ministries; Becki Arends from Junior Achievement of Southeast Missouri; Kim Dixon and Jessie Green with Safe House of Southeast Missouri; Michelle Ramsey from Community Counseling Center Foundation; and Erin Ragan from Girl Scouts of the Missouri Heartland.