Pull up a Chair: October Newsletter

Emily Prince • October 14, 2026

Abundance and Healthy Communities

A particular kind of abundance becomes visible in the fall.


The gardens are full. The work of a season is beginning to show. We gather what has grown, share what we have, and start thinking about what will need to be tended to next.


For those of us working to build healthy communities, the metaphor feels especially fitting.


Abundance is not something any one of us creates alone.


It grows through partnership.


It grows when someone pulls the weeds. When someone else shares the harvest. When a neighbor notices a need and responds. When an organization opens its doors. When a volunteer brings an hour of their time. When a donor invests in an idea. When someone on the sidelines is invited to the table.


And it grows when we recognize that everyone has something to contribute.


That belief is at the heart of the Athens County Foundation.

A Place to Belong

Athens County has always been a place where people have built something together.


In 1980, eight civic-minded Athens women each contributed $50 to launch what was then called the Athens Foundation. They believed that local generosity should stay local—and that Athens County could create its own philanthropic resource to improve the community.


They were told that Athens might be too small to sustain a community foundation.


They did it anyway.


The Foundation was incorporated in November 1980, received its 501(c)(3) status in 1982, and began grantmaking in 1986. Early support came largely through community memberships, and major gifts soon followed. One early example was the $13,000 “Bucks for Bobbie” gift, which became the Bobbie Britton Fund for families with critically ill children.


The story is important not simply because it tells us where ACF came from.


It tells us why we are here.


The Foundation began with eight people who believed their community was worth investing in. More than four decades later, that same idea still shapes our work: build on what is strong, invest in local people, and create the conditions for our communities to solve problems together.


ACF’s vision today is that everyone in Athens County is engaged and working together for a healthy, inclusive, thriving community. Our work is grounded in inclusion, collaboration, courage, hope, and trust.


The names and programs may change.


The invitation remains.


Pull up a chair. There is one for you.

The People Around the Table

his fall also gives us an opportunity to celebrate one of the people who has helped keep this table running for nearly two decades.


After 18 years with the Athens County Foundation, Cindy Strausbaugh is retiring as our Finance Manager.


Cindy is an alumna of Vinton County High School, where she graduated as Salutatorian, and a Summa Cum Laude graduate of Ohio University with a Bachelor of Business Administration in accounting. A certified public accountant, she spent 30 years as associate controller of The Ohio University Foundation before joining ACF.


For almost 20 years, if you attended an ACF event, received an ACF grant, or made an ACF donation, Cindy was probably somewhere behind the scenes making it happen.


She checked people in. She reminded us to return our W-9s. She processed payments. She chased down receipts. She kept us accountable—and, occasionally, kept the rest of us in line.


She puts the responsible in fiscal responsibility.


But beyond the spreadsheets and systems, Cindy has been part of this organization's fabric. She has helped countless nonprofit partners, donors, volunteers, and community members navigate the practical details that make generosity possible.


Cindy, thank you for 18 years of loyal, patient, and invaluable service to Athens County.


Please join us in wishing  her well in retirement.
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Pull up a Chair: September Newsletter

By Emily Prince • September 17, 2026
After the Storm: What Community Resilience Looks Like

Stacy Strauss is ACF's new Director of Finance and Administration

By Emily Prince • September 1, 2026
Please join us in welcoming our new Director of Finance and Administration, Stacy Strauss. Stacy looks forward to using her skills to strengthen our community! She brings energy, creativity, and a thoughtful approach to her work, along with a genuine ability to bring people together around shared goals. Her experience spans financial management, fundraising and grant writing, program development, business strategy, and developing materials that tell a clear, compelling story.  Just as importantly, she enjoys helping others grow. She has experience leading and training teams, building collaborative cultures, developing recruitment strategies, and finding practical, creative solutions to complicated challenges. Whether working with colleagues, community partners, or other stakeholders, she builds relationships rooted in trust, communication, and a shared commitment to advancing good ideas.

Fall Grant Applications Open

By Shayne Lopez • August 28, 2026
Athens County's greatest asset is its people. Every day, neighbors, organizations, and local leaders bring skill, creativity, and deep knowledge of this place to the work of building a stronger community. Our grantmaking invests in those strengths, because the best solutions are already growing here, led by the people who call Athens County home. Our grantmaking builds on the strengths already here by investing in the initiatives, people and organizations, relationships, skills, and ideas working to address longstanding challenges and pursue extraordinary opportunities. The deadline for applications for the Senior Fund has been extended to October 18, 2026! The Athens Jaycees Senior Fund The Athens Jaycees Senior Fund supports organizations and programs working to improve the lives of older adults (60+) in Athens County. This year, approximately $65,000 is available through ACF’s Fall Grant Cycle. We want to encourage organizations to think broadly about what supporting people as they age could look like. The Jaycees fund has deep local roots. In 2014, Housing for Athens Senior Residents donated $1 million to the Athens County Foundation to establish the fund following the sale of Heritage Commons Senior Housing. Heritage Commons itself began as an Athens Jaycees project in 1981, created to expand housing opportunities for local seniors. To date, the Jaycees Senior Fund has awarded more than $415,000 to support programs and services benefiting older adults across Athens County. What could an Athens Jaycees Senior Fund project look like? We’re inviting applicants to consider how their work could help make Athens County a community where people can remain active, connected, independent, and supported as they age. Projects might address housing, transportation, community and health services, social connection, healthy living, accessibility, caregiver support, or other needs and opportunities identified by older adults. The Jaycees Senior Fund intentionally remains flexible so that organizations can bring forward ideas grounded in what they are seeing and hearing in their communities. If your organization has an idea that could improve the experience of aging in Athens County, we encourage you to consider ACF’s Fall Grant Cycle to access the Jaycees Senior Fund. The deadline for grant requests supporting senior-related programs has been extended to October 18, 2026. For more information, please visit athensfoundation.org/grants. -------- If you’d like guidance in developing or strengthening an age-friendly program idea, we encourage you to reach out directly to Amy Lipka with Age-Friendly Athens County at alipka@athenspublichealth.org. The Athens City-County Health Department will also sponsor Healthy Aging Community Grants in early 2027.