The Jefferson City Rotaract presented $2,750 checks to both HALO and Head Start on Tuesday afternoon.
The money comes from the annual Kicks in the Sticks Trail Run this past August. This was the third year for the run, and every year so far it has had a larger audience and increased funds, said Rotaract President Kaleb Little.
"Our club has two service partners," Little said. "We do an international and a local service partner every year. Head Start is our local service partner and then HALO is an international organization, but they also have that local component, having a local house here in Jefferson City."
The Central Missouri Community Action Head Start is a federal program for preschool children from low-income and high-risk families. They serve eight counties in Central Missouri and provide healthy meals and a safe setting in which children can play.
"We are a school readiness program, but that is just one part of our agency," said Lisa Cumins of Head Start. "That (money) gives us the opportunity to purchase items that are necessary for the classrooms that we might not be able to get with federal funding. It also will allow us to do events, like parent meetings and ... offer some extra services that we normally wouldn't be able to."
The Helping Art Liberate Orphans Foundation, or HALO, is a local nonprofit that helps support 11 different orphanages in five different developing countries, said Elle Benage from HALO. They have branches in Kansas City, New York and Portland, Oregon. The Jefferson City office fully supports one of the orphanages in Uganda called the Mengo Home, which is a home for 20 girls.
"It is wonderful," Benage said. "This is great; this is our third year of partnering with Kicks in the Sticks. It will go toward the three types of programs we do."
Aside from the orphanages HALO provides free art therapy, empowerment and job skills programs for at-risk and low-income youth. They also manage a 18-month-long transitional living program for homeless teenagers in Jefferson City.
The Rotaract is a branch of the Rotary Club that is specifically for working professionals 30 and under, Little said. They, like the Rotary, are a service group that tries to help people and socialize with the community.