John Diefendorf, right, takes a picture of members of the Centralia Community Foundation board accepting a $100,000 donation from Title Guaranty manager Meri Hamre Thursday morning at Centralia City Hall.
Meri Hamre, left, manager of Chehalis' Title Guaranty, and Dan Rich, president of the Centralia Community Foundation board, hug as they pose for a picture with a ceremonial $100,000 check from the business to the community foundation.
Dan Rich, right, president of the Centralia Community Foundation Board, said he did a dance when Meri Hamre, manager of Title Guaranty, informed him the business would donate $100,000 over five years to the foundation. Hamre presented the organization with a ceremonial check Thursday morning at Centralia City Hall.
Last year, the Centralia Community Foundation formed to raise money for the betterment of the community, starting with a focus on how education can begin to solve issues such as poverty.
“It’s time to be part of the solution,” said Title Guaranty Manager Meri Hamre.
Hamre formally awarded a ceremonial $100,000 check to the Centralia Community Foundation board Thursday at Centralia City Hall.
The business plans to make the $100,000 donation over the next five years.
“This is a tremendous watershed moment, I think, in Centralia’s history,” said John Diefendorf, consultant to the Centralia Community Foundation’s board. “We think this is the beginning of transforming this community both educationally and culturally.”
Diefendorf noted that the Centralia Community Foundation’s goal to support quality education comes at the same time as the Centralia School District plans to build two new elementary schools and make significant improvements to Centralia High School. Those projects were approved by voters through a $74 million bond earlier this year.
“We’re going to make this the best school district in the state, if not the nation, when we’re done,” he said.
Foundation board president Dan Rich told board members and the media in attendance Thursday that he did a dance of joy when Hamre informed him of the donation.
“This donation … is much more than we asked,” he said. “This goes a long ways for us to help ourselves and help others.”
Hamre said she believes the donation follows Title Guaranty’s mission statement — “Growing Lewis County one family at a time” — and said the business and the Centralia Community Foundation have similar goals.
“It really mirrors what Title Guaranty is all about,” she said.
She assured the group that the large donation doesn’t come with strings attached or with requirements about how the money is spent.
She said she hopes the money acts like a “seed” to help the foundation grow its mission of promoting education, and motivating, encouraging and inspiring Centralians.
“We want to help you get there,” she said.
Title Guaranty Company of Lewis County, founded in 1959, is located at 200 NW Pacific Ave., Chehalis, and has 20 employees. The company was named the 2015 United Way Business of the Year. The company and its employees regularly give back to the community, donating and volunteering with organizations such as the Centralia College Foundation and the college’s Corbet Theatre, Providence Centralia Hospital, the Vernetta Smith Chehalis Timberland Library, the Lewis County Historical Museum, the Boys and Girls Club and Relay for Life, as well as other programs.
Hamre said the company and its employees plan to continue to work to support the Centralia Community Foundation, which was formed in the vision of The Chehalis Foundation, a nonprofit that has funneled millions of dollars in donations into Mint City schools.
The city of Centralia helped launch the Centralia Community Foundation with a $20,000 donation in 2016.
To learn more, visit centraliacf.org.
