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A San Diego-based foundation, whose focus is critically ill children and their families, will soon be calling Hannibal home. The Blue Ryno Foundation intends to be relocated in Hannibal by the end of the year.
“We are looking at hopefully doing our ribbon-cutting ceremony and taking possession of the building in early November,” said Ronda Oswalt, foundation director.
The building that the foundation will be calling home is the former MCM Bank building located at Third Street and Broadway. The structure, which had been listed for $500,000, is in the process of being donated to the foundation by F&M Bank.
“When we were talking about setting up an office here we started looking around for a location. That’s when F&M Bank came forward with their generous donation of the building to the foundation,” said Oswalt.
“I think we’ve got an excellent organization we’re giving the building to,” said Stevens Plowman, bank president. “We have not completed the transaction. We hope to before the year end. We really are glad Blue Ryno is going to have a permanent location in Hannibal.”
While its philanthropic interest in the community was the bank’s primary motivation behind the donation, Plowman explained that it was also time for the bank to part with the downtown building.
“When we consolidated our locations we simply had that building left totally vacant. It’s been vacant now for about a year-and-a-half, so we do need to remove the building from our balance sheet,” he said.
The foundation is now seeking credits through the Neighborhood Assistance Program to help cover renovation costs to the building, which Oswalt estimates will run between $300,000 and $400,000. The foundation is planning to lease the first three floors as office space. The upper two floors will be converted into apartments.
“It’s a big project, but we’re very excited about it,” said Oswalt, adding that the revenue generated by the lease agreements will be used to support the foundation.
The foundation was created a little over three years ago, according to Oswalt, who said the effort is the dream of former Major League baseball player, Ryan Klesko. Klesko, a former spokesman for the Make a Wish Foundation, was concerned about the families he felt were “falling through the cracks.”
“He was seeing there were so many families that weren’t getting services and weren’t being able to provide for their child because of their child’s treatment. That’s when he said his foundation was going to be different. We’re going to enable families to concentrate on fighting for their child’s life and not have to worry about keeping a roof over their head all the time,” said Oswalt.
The foundation annually provides between $1,000 to $1,500 for 75 to 100 families with children who are terminally or critically ill with cancer.
“We do financial help as in rent and mortages. In the Midwest we’ve found we do probably more gas cards to go back and forth for treatments,” said Oswalt. “We also do a lot of advocating on insurance issues for the families because a lot of them end up with $1 million bills and they don’t know what to do. Sometimes we do co-payments.
“We’re a very diversified foundation.”
Oswalt, who is originally from the Palmyra area, is anxious to see the foundation put down roots in Hannibal.
“The Hannibal community has been so supportive,” she said. “We’re just anxious to get here and get started helping families here in the Midwest.”
The foundation, whose staff consists of two paid staff members and four volunteers, will maintain a satellite office in San Diego after its main office is moved to Hannibal.
A San Diego-based foundation, whose focus is critically ill children and their families, will soon be calling Hannibal home. The Blue Ryno Foundation intends to be relocated in Hannibal by the end of the year.
“We are looking at hopefully doing our ribbon-cutting ceremony and taking possession of the building in early November,” said Ronda Oswalt, foundation director.
The building that the foundation will be calling home is the former MCM Bank building located at Third Street and Broadway. The structure, which had been listed for $500,000, is in the process of being donated to the foundation by F&M Bank.
“When we were talking about setting up an office here we started looking around for a location. That’s when F&M Bank came forward with their generous donation of the building to the foundation,” said Oswalt.
“I think we’ve got an excellent organization we’re giving the building to,” said Stevens Plowman, bank president. “We have not completed the transaction. We hope to before the year end. We really are glad Blue Ryno is going to have a permanent location in Hannibal.”
While its philanthropic interest in the community was the bank’s primary motivation behind the donation, Plowman explained that it was also time for the bank to part with the downtown building.
“When we consolidated our locations we simply had that building left totally vacant. It’s been vacant now for about a year-and-a-half, so we do need to remove the building from our balance sheet,” he said.
The foundation is now seeking credits through the Neighborhood Assistance Program to help cover renovation costs to the building, which Oswalt estimates will run between $300,000 and $400,000. The foundation is planning to lease the first three floors as office space. The upper two floors will be converted into apartments.
“It’s a big project, but we’re very excited about it,” said Oswalt, adding that the revenue generated by the lease agreements will be used to support the foundation.
The foundation was created a little over three years ago, according to Oswalt, who said the effort is the dream of former Major League baseball player, Ryan Klesko. Klesko, a former spokesman for the Make a Wish Foundation, was concerned about the families he felt were “falling through the cracks.”
“He was seeing there were so many families that weren’t getting services and weren’t being able to provide for their child because of their child’s treatment. That’s when he said his foundation was going to be different. We’re going to enable families to concentrate on fighting for their child’s life and not have to worry about keeping a roof over their head all the time,” said Oswalt.
The foundation annually provides between $1,000 to $1,500 for 75 to 100 families with children who are terminally or critically ill with cancer.
“We do financial help as in rent and mortages. In the Midwest we’ve found we do probably more gas cards to go back and forth for treatments,” said Oswalt. “We also do a lot of advocating on insurance issues for the families because a lot of them end up with $1 million bills and they don’t know what to do. Sometimes we do co-payments.
“We’re a very diversified foundation.”
Oswalt, who is originally from the Palmyra area, is anxious to see the foundation put down roots in Hannibal.
“The Hannibal community has been so supportive,” she said. “We’re just anxious to get here and get started helping families here in the Midwest.”
The foundation, whose staff consists of two paid staff members and four volunteers, will maintain a satellite office in San Diego after its main office is moved to Hannibal.
