Join us for this year’s Youth Philanthropy Council awards ceremony, held at the Hutchinson Art Center at 3 p.m. on Saturday, March 8.

Each spring the Youth Philanthropy Council (YPC), made up of Reno County high school students, distributes approximately $5,000 in grants to youth-serving organizations from the Richard W. Dillon Memorial Fund for Youth Philanthropy.

YPC is a grantmaking program designed to involve area students in philanthropy: the practice of giving money, time and talents to help make life better for other people. The group began meeting in November to discuss local issues of concern to youth and the community, learn about grantmaking, and present grants to youth-serving organizations.

The grants were awarded from the Richard W. Dillon Memorial Fund for Youth Philanthropy, established by the Dillon family to honor Dick Dillon for his extensive philanthropic work in the community.

The 14 members of the 2025-2026 council are Ryan Cherry and Benjamin Gazaway (Buhler High School); Gavin Foster and Lucy Steen (Fairfield High School); Madison Richey and Kalya Rose (Haven High School); Annalee Eckhoff, Leah Foos, Margaret Kaplan, Kinsley Koestel, and Blake Patterson (Hutchinson High School); Will Barkley and Isaiah Hathaway (Nickerson High School); Sam Vogel (Trinity Catholic High School).