Making a Greater Ellis

 On April 21, 2011, Dennis “Denny” Schoenthaler and his wife, Ginger, came to the Foundation office and told about a dream Denny had for his community. Denny wanted a walking trail that would be somewhere other than in the middle of the street, that would be open to the community and be able to be used at any time by anyone. 

On November, 2011. The first Annual Dennis Schoenthaler Memorial Walk/Run was held and raised over

$200 to support the trail.

Since the trail did not reach full completion, a Spring FHSU Leadership Studies Team was sought. The Spring team has continued work on the trail and promoting healthier lifestyles for the Ellis community members.

In order to spread Denny’s healthy lifestyle, the Spring FHSU Team held a Health Fair in conjunction with the Trego Co. Hospital and Ellis Family Care Center. Many visitors learned various ways to take small steps toward healthier living.

The Walking Trail was completed in 2012.

 The Foundation launched the Giving Back to Ellis campaign with much of the support going towards the purchase of a double slide for the new Ellis Municipal Pool.

December 2016 was a start of a new project campaign for the youth of our community. The “Give Back to Ellis” campaign supported the purchase of a double slide for the Ellis Municipal Pool. The goal to raise $50,000 include the slide parts and components, electric work, cement, and fencing expansion along with water pumps for the slide.

 The Born Learning Trail is a unique learning trail for children. The directional signs along the trail offer families a place to be active and elevate awareness of early childhood education in the outdoors. Along the trail are signs that encourage active learning. Children learn in ways that are exciting and fun in a child’s world. The trail was sponsored and installed in partnership with Women Who Lead of Hays, The Teget Foundation of Hays, and the Community Foundation of Ellis in the summer of 2023. 

 The Foundation helped to expand the capacity of the Ellis Food Boxes and Pantry by joining efforts and purchasing its new location at 210 Madison Street.

Founder of the Ellis Food Boxes Leonard Schoenberger and the Community Foundation of Ellis joined together to expand the capacity of the Ellis Food Boxes and Pantry. In 2016 a ribbon cutting was held at the pantry's new location at 210 Madison Street.

 The Ellis Alliance is a storefront and an umbrella organization that houses the Community Foundation of Ellis, the Ellis Chamber of Commerce, and the Ellis Development Corporation. These organizations share resources and collaborate for the success of Ellis. 

The Community Foundation of Ellis was able to re-model and provide an office space for the Alliance. In addition, this office building has a public meeting room available for rent for business or person use.

This program provided food for the weekend each Friday for any student who needed food assistance. For grades K-6, this program was sponsored by the Kansas Food Bank. A similar

parallel program for students at St. Mary’s, Ellis Jr. High and EHS was provided and funded by the Foundation.

 With the help from Rich's IGA, the Community Foundation of Ellis was able to send home a tree with each child attending our local schools.