Samantha Otte Fund Grants Awarded Wednesday

Fifteen area not-for-profit organizations benefit from the latest round of grants from the Samantha Otte Youth Opportunity Fund.

The Community Foundation Serving West Central Illinois and Northeast Missouri announced the grant recipients in a ceremony Wednesday in the Quincy Art Center.

The fund was set up by Samantha’s parents, Chuck and June Otte, to honor their daughter who died from complications from the liver transplant in 2000.

In the past 16 years, the Otte’s have handed out over $300,000 in grant money.

Among the organizations getting grant money in 2017 are Big Brothers Big Sisters of West Central Illinois, John Wood Community College Foundation, Kids in Motion, the Quincy Public Schools and Bluff City Theater.