The Christ the King Foundation serves as an integral part of life at CtK. Although the Foundation is a non-profit 501©3 entity, and is separate from the church itself, since the beginning, the Board established that it’s mission was to provide resources for CtK initiatives as well as funding for Global and Community initiatives. The original board envisioned that the creation of a Foundation, with the ability to give out funding, was like the Parable of the Mustard Seed. The financial gifts received each year would become the seeds and the grants would become the branches.
The Foundation began in 1989 with an investment of $15,000 and today those investments exceed $2.5 million. I suspect that the original board never envisioned this level of growth and would be impressed with the fact that approximately $975,000 has been awarded in grants as of June 30, 2025.
Gary Carlson, Gary Hokel, and Len Krumm were part of the founding group and to this day, they still participate in Foundation activities – give them a shout out or shake their hand when you next see them! We, as the current board members, are extremely grateful for their envisioning what a Foundation could do to enhance life at CtK.
A few years ago, we decided to be more visibly involved in life at CtK and as such, this is our 4th year to sponsor the summer Pizza Night. The bread oven in which the pizzas are baked was funded by a grant from the Foundation. The fire is built in the oven 4-5 hours in advance as the oven needs to be extremely hot to bake a pizza in less than 5 minutes. And, the person, standing there rotating the pizza, gets a little roasted as well! But, as we all know, it is a wonderful experience to see the pizza being baked and then sitting under the trees outside with friends and family enjoying your meal. And, it is tradition for the Foundation to have live dinner music by Bill & Dawn Beling and Joel Hoeger!
Come and join us (present and past Foundation Board members will be your hosts, cooks and servers) on Wednesday, August 6, for some amazing pizza and dessert, live music, and the opportunity to visit with friends and family, all outside under the trees, allowing you to enjoy nature to boot (and a beautifully refreshed parking lot!). You don’t want to pass this opportunity up as it only happens once a year! Pizza will be served from 5-6:30 pm.