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When Samantha Otte died of cystic fibrosis at the age of 10, her parents decided to keep her legacy alive by starting a fund in her name, WGEM reports.
On Tuesday, 23 local nonprofit organizations received a total of $40,000 in grants from the Samantha Otte Youth Opportunity Fund.
"No one could possibly have envisioned that one day we would be celebrating more than a half million dollars of grants awarded to nonprofits enriching the lives of tens of thousands of area children," Samantha's mother, June Otte, said in a statement.
Samantha's parents, Chuck and June Otte, started the fund at the Community Foundation Serving West Central Illinois & Northeast Missouri after their daughter's death.
"One of the primary reasons this milestone has been reached is because of the outstanding stewardship of the Community Foundation," June Otte said in a statement.
Since the fund was established in late 2000, more than $523,000 has been distributed through grants to support kids in Samantha's memory.
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