SIM Auxiliary Inc., the nonprofit fundraiser for Flower Mound’s Seniors in Motion program, has received a $5,250 startup grant from the CoServ Charitable Foundation.
SIM Auxiliary will use the grant to produce brochures, build a Web site and purchase supplies, with the goal of raising money to support the SIM program and help furnish a senior center for Flower Mound.
“I’m very excited about this grant from CoServ,” said Mary Kay Walker, president of the SIM Auxiliary. “I’m not only a customer of CoServ’s, I’m also a big fan. I go to all the annual meetings, and I’m so proud that our electric co-op supports the community like this.”
Dennis Engelke, executive director of the CoServ Charitable Foundation, told the Flower Mound Town Council meeting that the foundation is funded by CoServ employees and customers through Operation Roundup and is pleased to have given nearly $2.5 million back to the community, helping fund 123 projects in its service area.
“The Seniors in Motion organization already has a wonderful reputation,” Mr. Engelke said. “Mary Kay sent in an application talking about the future of a senior center here in Flower Mound and requesting some assistance in the early stages of getting this fund-raising project up and running.”
SIM Auxiliary was formed last summer to enable Flower Mound residents to make tax-deductible contributions to augment the town’s support of the SIM program, which operates out of a room at the Community Activities Center.
The nonprofit has been approved by the IRS as a 501(c)3 organization, which means contributions are tax-deductible. The initial membership campaign has raised more than $3,000 in its first four months.
“Our strategy is to build a base of support through the $15 membership program,” said Paul Foutch, SIM Auxiliary vice president. “Then we’ll use that base to demonstrate to local companies, foundations and other groups that their larger contributions will be appreciated and noted by the community.”
The Flower Mound Town Council recently approved a new parks master plan that includes a standalone senior center as part of further development of the CAC site. But funding is undetermined, and groundbreaking would be years away. An interim proposal calls for converting the old firehouse next to Town Hall into a temporary senior center.
“We will be working with the town and the SIM program’s advisory board to determine immediate and long-term needs, and then we’ll set our fund-raising goals accordingly,” Walker said. “Anything we fund at a temporary facility will have to be transferable to the permanent one. Flower Mound really needs a nice senior center, and that’s our goal.”
SIM Auxiliary also has unveiled its logo, designed by Michael Hogue, the award-winning illustrator for The Dallas Morning News. Hogue donated his time to produce the distinctive logo, which will grace the group’s brochures and business cards.
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