Anyone who has been out and about lately probably recognizes the sign at the bottom of this editorial. The signs can be found at the J.H. Robbins Memorial Library. At the splash pad in Preisker Park. And in front of dozens of other places — not just here but across Ellsworth County. It’s all thanks to the Smoky Hills Charitable

It’s all thanks to the Smoky Hills Charitable Foundation and its supporters.

Several years ago, a friend — looking back on her time as a mother to three children — sat down and wrote a letter to the residents in her small town in Indiana, thanking them for all the help they had given her family over the years.

No one, she wrote, raises a child by themselves or builds a community without the help of their neighbors.

This story reminds us of the foundation. Over its 20-year life, Smoky Hills has invested more than $1 million into Ellsworth County projects.

A lot of this work has been done in cooperation with other foundations — Dane G. Hansen at Logan and Greater Salina, which provides administrative services to Smoky Hills.

Individuals can always lend a hand to extend the influence of the foundations. That is especially true in October.

Foundation directors are working to secure $50,000 in donations.

If successful, the Hansen Foundation will match each dollar up to $50,000 with $1.50 for a total of $125,000 for the Smoky Hills Community Fund. That’s the same fund that generated the dollars used to build a handicapped accessible ramp to the Wilson Heritage Museum, upgrades to the Ellsworth County Fairgrounds and purchase equipment for Feeding the Children of Central Kansas, among many other projects and programs.

The foundation has touched the life of almost every resident in Ellsworth County.

Donations can be made at smokyhillscf.org or delivered to board member Amber Peschka at Berkeley Capital Management, in Ellsworth’s First Bank Kansas addition. Her telephone number is (785) 472-2375. A foundation director also will be available to accept donations from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Oct. 29 and 30 in the downtown Ellsworth office of the Ellsworth Area Chamber of Commerce.