The Bear Family Foundation hands out $4.98 million

The Bear Family Foundation last year awarded $4.98 million to local nonprofits. Lewis Bear, Jr. and his wife Belle were my guests on 1370 WCOA/104.9 FM.

Lewis talked about how the family runs the foundation.

“We’ve got three generations on that board, and it’s just a pleasure to sit at a meeting and listen to them,” said Lewis. “They do their homework. They this past year went through 50-something charities that had made requests to our foundation, and each and every one of them did their homework and knew what the grants were about, and visited some of them. And so it’s working, it’s doing what we had hoped it would do. And that’s to get generations involved in making this a better place for people to live.”

Belle added, “All of us feel like we get more out of it than even the organizations get because it is heartwarming to do something good for people and anybody; it’s just really heartwarming.”