Celebrating volunteerism

A pair of volunteers were honored for their efforts Wednesday.

The Portland Foundation presented the Jack Cole Award for Volunteerism to Brandon Swoveland for 2019 and Brian Ison for 2020 at its annual meeting.

“We have two awards to give this year,” executive director Doug Inman said, noting the foundation did not meet last year because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Swoveland, a Jay County Sheriff’s Office reserve, serves as a volunteer firefighter and a volunteer with Jay County Rescue 19 and Jay County Emergency Management. 

“I as well others have observed Brandon for years working on the sidelines and in the shadows,” Inman read from his nomination letter. “That tells you something about him because he does this all for free.”

Ison is president of the Portland Junior League board and Chamber Leadership Academy board, vice president of the Jay Community Center board and a member of Portland Park Board.

He previously served as president of the John Jay Center for Learning board of directors, financial chair for Trinity United Methodist Church and a baseball, softball, soccer and flag football coach.

“Everything started here for me in John Jay,” Ison said, while offering his thanks to those who helped get him involved.

The award was created by the foundation’s board of directors when Jack Cole left the position of executive director to take a leadership role in statewide philanthropic organizations. He was unable to attend Wednesday.

The foundation’s assets totaled $39.95 million at the end of 2019 and $43.1 million at the end of 2020, with the addition of 16 new endowments in the last two years, Inman reported. About $1.8 million in gifts were received, and grants and scholarships totaling $2.8 million were awarded.

Since its founding in 1951, the foundation has awarded $12.3 million in grants and $6.8 million in scholarships.

Inman also highlighted progress on the seventh phase of the Lilly Endowment Giving Indiana Funds for Tomorrow (GIFT), which matches funds for those building unrestricted endowments. The foundation raised $500,000 in unrestricted endowments and received $500,000 in matching funds. 

In 2019, the foundation began the planning phase of the GIFT initiative and received a $50,000 grant to determine the greatest needs in the county, Inman added. After delaying nine months because of the coronavirus pandemic, the foundation started its implementation phase for the project last week.

“The goal of the implementation phase is … to develop a strategy to combat the interrelated issues of the opioid epidemic, high child poverty, low postsecondary educational attainment and low workforce development skills,” he explained.

Task forces have been formed to begin developing a strategy for this phase to “hopefully move the needle in a positive direction,” Inman said.

Outgoing foundation board member Pat Bennett and outgoing foundation board president Rex Journay were also honored at the annual meeting for their years of service.