Trust fund looking for teens

By: Sarah Stortz

With the ongoing problems that are happening in our society, it can be difficult to keep track of them all and help keep them under control, but one local group filled with young people is pitching in to help improve the Cedar Valley community.

The group is called Teen Trust and what they do is work with non-profit organizations by sharing $10,000 with them. The board is composed of 25 students that are all from the Black Hawk County area. They meet a couple of times a month to work with grant applications and learn about philanthropy.

This year, Teen Trust has recently sent in its grant and helped eight major Cedar Valley non-profit groups. All of the members needed to come to a consensus to decide which non-profit organizations should receive a grant and how that grant will benefit the community.

Junior Katarina Walther is one member of Teen Trust  who explains the difficulty of the process. “There were so many of them, probably 15 of more,” Walther said. “It was really difficult to find which ones we all agreed on and which would make a difference in the community and which ones had well-written grants. One of them applied for $5,000, which was half our grant, so we needed to figure out how much we could actually give them while still making sure they were able to complete their project.”

Despite the difficulties of choosing which organizations that should receive a grant, it all becomes worth it when the groups they picked receive it, according to Junior Noah Beisner. “Once we finally got that ironed out, it was really rewarding to go to those organizations and surprise those people with that and see them smile,” Beisner said.

Walther first took an interest in helping non-profit organizations when her uncle started one last summer, which was the main reason why she joined. So far, Walther has claimed to have a positive experience with Teen Trust . “It’s a great way to get to know people who have somewhat similar interests to you. There are eight different schools represented, so we all come from different backgrounds,” Walther said. “I’ve learned a lot about non-profit organizations, so I think if I go into working into one, I will be more prepared.”

Currently, Teen Trust is seeking members to become a part of the board. Anybody interested in joining can visit www.cfneia.org to apply to become a member. Applications are due Wednesday, April 22.