Keeping with a longtime tradition of building community ties, Blue Grass Community Foundation (BGCF) is helping Transylvania bring Lexington together for this year’s PumpkinMania on Oct. 30.
BGCF is the lead sponsor for the event, which will kick off at 6 p.m. with trick-or-treating, live music, food trucks and children’s activities. Hundreds of jack-o’-lanterns will be lit at 7 p.m. on the steps of historic Old Morrison.
“Lexingtonians love a good party, and over the past eight years PumpkinMania has evolved into a signature family event for North Limestone—an area of our city in which we have invested for many years,” said Lisa Adkins, BGCF president and CEO. “We are honored to partner with Transylvania to bring neighbors together from across the city for such a fun, engaging evening.”
Creating more generous, vibrant and engaged communities, after all, is BGCF’s mission.
Founded in 1967, the group is the state’s oldest community foundation. It helps donors create charitable funds that make a positive difference across the Bluegrass and Appalachia Kentucky.
Through community foundations like BGCF, individuals, families, businesses and organizations establish charitable funds, permanent endowments and scholarships to help meet community needs, such as education, urban development, human services, the arts, the environment, health care and disaster relief.
“Every day, I am inspired by incredible stories of nonprofit organizations that are transforming lives in our community, and the generous donors that lift them up,” Adkins said. “We are dedicated to the idea that one person can make a powerful impact, but we know we have the biggest impact when we work together. At the Community Foundation, we believe in investing together for our shared future.”
The foundation is a public charity with more than 579 charitable funds supporting the causes of donors, who receive personalized service to help maximize the benefits of giving. The group has more than $129.9 million in charitable assets and has awarded more than $85.9 million in grants.
Community foundations go well beyond supporting charitable activities. They also identify current and emerging issues, channel resources to address local needs and help communities prepare for the future.
For instance, BGCF has been a leader on projects such as the Legacy Trail and an On the Table event, which brought together more than 13,000 people around tables across central Kentucky to discuss their communities and ways to improve them.
The group—which grows the seeds of generosity in our own neighborhoods—believes that the power and passion of individual philanthropy leads to stronger, more vibrant communities.