Daily Yonder, five years on rural, seeks donations

The Daily Yonder, which is all about rural news, policy and culture, is making its most direct appeal for money yet, saying it "is trying to raise $25,000 to see it through the next year."

"The Yonder has been around now for five years. We have only indirectly asked for money over that time. Now we’re asking for real," write Co-Editors Bill Bishop and Julie Ardery of Austin, Tex., who are also husband and wife -- and, we should add, friends and associates of the Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues, which publishes The Rural Blog. The Yonder is published by the foundation-supported Center for Rural Strategies, a nonprofit organization based in Whitesburg, Ky. Bishop and Dee Davis, director of the center, are both on the Institute's advisory board.

While The Rural Blog is designed primarily for rural journalists, the Yonder is for everyone interested in rural. "Our job is to give rural people, writers, places and issues a place and a way to be heard," the editors write. "In the last five years, we’ve published thousands of stories by over 250 different authors, most of whom live in rural America. . . . We need your help to continue what we’re doing — and to make it bigger and better."

The Yonder's usual fun streak runs through its appeal, offering various premiums for donations, such as a banjo lesson, a musical jingle and a walking tour of Hazard, Ky., with natives Davis and Kentucky poet laureate Gurney Norman. And they're looking for folks to provide other premiums that they can offer. To read more, click here. To donate, go here. And if you want to help The Rural Blog and the Institute, here.

Kaiser Foundation video explains health reform

For those of us who find health reform confusing, the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation has done a favor. Its video "Health Reform Hits Main Street" wrestles the topic down to a 9-minute, animated movie that will "explain the problems with the current health care system, the changes that are happening now, and the big changes coming in 2014," the foundation says.

The foundation promises that viewers will learn "more about how the health reform law will affect the health insurance coverage options for individuals, families and businesses with the interactive feature 'Illustrating Health Reform: How Health Insurance Coverage Will Work'." Whether you actually learn that, we figure, is up to you, but they have given it a good try. Watch the video by clicking on this website where a link will take you to the video. It's also available in Spanish.

Monsanto giving $2.3 million to rural school districts

Monsanto, leading international producer of genetically engineered and herbicide-resistant seeds, announced this week it will give $2.3 million to rural schools during the 2012-2013 year through its "America's Farmers Grow Rural Education" program. The company is giving 176 rural school districts in 35 states grants of $10,000 to $25,000, which must be used for projects related to math and science.

Local farmers nominated the districts, and district officials completed online applications, Greta Weiderman of the St. Louis Business Journal reports. Math and science teachers from ineligible districts chose finalists, and a group of 26 prominent farmers across the country selected winners. (Read more) Click here to see if your local school district made the cut.

Study details the geography of charitable giving; interactive website lets you look it up by ZIP code

A careful look at charitable giving has shown that lower-income people tend to donate a much bigger share of their discretionary incomes than wealthier people do. And rich people are more generous when they live among those who aren't so rich. That's according to a new study by the Chronicle of Philanthropy, which breaks charitable giving down by ZIP code. Pam Fessler of NPR reports that the study found that generosity varies greatly from one region of the country to another.

Sample screenshot from interactive website shows giving rates for counties in parts of Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi and Arkansas.

You can explore the giving in your own state, city and neighborhood at the interactive site, by clicking here.

The study found that households with annual incomes of $50,000 to $75,000 donate, on average, 7.6 percent of their discretionary income, writes Fessler. "That's compared with about 4 percent for those with incomes of $200,000 or more. Peter Panepento, the Chronicle's assistant managing editor, says religious giving, which makes up the bulk of U.S. donations, is a major factor. 'States like Utah and Alabama and Mississippi all end up very high on our list,' he says. 'And states where [there's] more of a secular mindset, particularly in New England and all along the coast, tended to show up lower on the list.'

"High-income people who live in economically diverse neighborhoods give more on average than high-income people who live in wealthier neighborhoods. Paul Piff, a social psychologist at the University of California, Berkeley, says that's consistent with what he's found in years of research on income and giving. 'The more wealth you have, the more focused on your own self and your own needs you become, and the less attuned to the needs of other people you also become,' he says. 'Simply reminding wealthy people of the diversity of needs that are out there is going to go a long way toward restoring the empathy or compassion deficit that we otherwise see,' Piff says." (Read more)

Founder of Christian Appalachian Project has died

Monsignor Ralph Beiting, the Roman Catholic priest who founded the Christian Appalachian Project and served the people of Eastern Kentucky since World War II, has died. He was 89.

Beiting was introduced to Appalachia when he traveled to the region on a mission trip in 1946. He had lived through the Great Depression and was familiar with living in poverty, but in Appalachia, he said during an interview with Story Corps, he had found "that there was another America ... the America of Appalachia." He said the poverty there at the time was the worst he had ever witnessed.

Charles Compton of WEKU, the public station at Eastern Kentucky University, reports that Beiting was called in 1950 to start a Catholic church in Berea, just outside the Appalachian coalfield, and though his reception was not warm, he continued to "spread the faith and raise money" to build more churches throughout Eastern Kentucky. In the 1950s, Beiting launched a summer camp, Cliffview Lodge, that offered recreation and fellowship to boys from poor families. In 1964, the camp became the Christian Appalachian Project, which Beiting declared would "be a group that would roll up our sleeves and get the job done." It expanded its work to a variety of projects to help the Appalachian poor.

Beiting served as pastor of parishes in the Berea region until 1981, when he transferred to Eastern Kentucky, where he founded and/or constructed 20 churches. He served as CAP's president until 1986 and was chairman until 1999. Here are links to three videos of Beiting and Father Terry Hoppenjans talking about their work.

Fellowships send rural journalists to IRE Computer-Assisted Reporting Boot Camp; apply by June 22

Friday, June 22 is the deadline for rural journalists to apply for a competitive fellowship to attend the Investigative Reporters and Editors Computer-Assisted Reporting Boot Camp Aug 5-10 in Columbia, Mo. The fellowship includes a one-year membership in IRE and up to $350 reimbursement for expenses.

These fellowships are made possible through the generosity of Daniel Gilbert, left, who used the skills he learned at a CAR Boot Camp to write a Pulitzer Prize-winning expose of the mismanagement of southwest Virginia natural-gas royalties for the Bristol Herald Courier. That work also won him the Scripps Howard Award for community journalism, and he donated its $10,000 prize to the Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues to create a fund for the fellowships. The Scripps Howard Foundation matched his gift, and the state of Kentucky matched both gifts, allowing two fellowships per year. Gilbert now covers oil and gas for The Wall Street Journal.

Kate Martin of the Skagit Valley Herald, in Mt. Vernon, Wash., was the inaugral IRE fellow. She says thanks to the CAR boot camp "I am no longer at the mercy of my sources to look up a figure or fact for me. I can have them send me the source file and work with it on my own." (Read more)

The fellowship is available to journalists who work for news organizations with daily circulation less than 40,000 whose geographic coverage or circulation is primarily rural, or a broadcast station not in the top 100 markets as defined by Nielsen Inc. and has a mainly rural coverage and circulation area; or an online publication that has demonstrated an abiding interest in covering issues in rural areas. “Rural” is defined as outside a standard metropolitan statistical area.

Applicants must submit a resume, a letter of support from the news organization, three clips showcasing investigative work, and a statement of interest. Preference will be given to applicants to outline a project that include the need to analyze databases. For more details and an application form, click here.

State parks in dire financial straits; some saved by local communities, nonprofits, wealthy individuals

Several states have proposed closing some state parks, mostly in rural areas, because of shrinking budgets, and residents in surrounding communities are fighting to keep them open. California officials plan to close 70 parks next month. Supporters have raised $200,000 to keep California's China Camp State Park (above) open, and need $50,000 more from communities in wealthy Marin County, Chris Megerian of the Los Angeles Times reports. (Photo by Brant Ward, San Francisco Chronicle)

In poorer counties, it's harder to raise funds for parks. Officials and supporters are struggling to raise $80,000 to save the historic home of the state's last Mexican governor, but Los Encinos State Historic Park, just 35 miles away, was saved by a single $150,000 donation. State Parks Director Ruth Coleman told Megerin that about half of the 70 parks slated for closure will remain open, operated either by local governments or nonprofit organizations. Arizona was planning to close all its parks in 2010, but most have been kept open by agreements with local governments and nonprofits.

To stay afloat, state parks are trying new things. Nevada has added vending machines to draw revenue; Idaho officials want companies to advertise on park signs; Colorado is allowing oil and gas drilling in St. Vrain Park to generate funding. Kentucky state parks now sell alcohol at some locations and cut worker hours in an effort to save $6 million a year, reports Jack Brammer of the Lexington Herald-Leader. Though none of the state's 51 parks will be closed, private concession companies will be allowed to operate food services at seven resort parks, and parks will be closed on Mondays and Tuesdays.