KHS
TOPEKA— The Kansas Historical Foundation and the Kansas Historical Society (KHS) announced Friday, on Kansas Day, with a special check presentation that Security Benefit will be donating $100,000 to the foundation over the next four years.
Cherie Huffman, Security Benefit vice president, investments, and head of investment operations, presented the check to Jennie Chinn, Kansas Historical Society executive director, and Vicky Henley, Kansas Historical Foundation executive director and CEO.
This generous gift is designated for the Kansas Historical Foundation’s Honor · Educate · Inspire Capital Campaign to raise $7 million. With this gift, the campaign is 85 percent complete.
Security Benefit is a Topeka, Kansas-based company with a long history. In downtown Topeka in the winter of 1892, the 11 founders gathered, contributing $1 each to create an insurance fund for those who could not afford life insurance. Security Benefit offered a lifeline to those suffering after floods, earthquakes, wars, and an epidemic. Over the years the company built a national reputation for ingenuity and philanthropy.
“Security Benefit is proud of its 129-year history in Topeka, Kansas,” noted Huffman. “We will never forget our humble beginnings here, nor the challenges our fellow Kansans have faced during our existence. We look forward to the new exhibits our donation will help fund.”
The Kansas Museum of History’s new exhibits will honor those who have come before us. They will tell the stories of Kansas in a way that resonates in the 21st century.
The new exhibits are projected to open in 2023.
Since the museum’s opening in 1984 nearly 2 million people have visited. During most years, the Historical Society serves more than 20 million people onsite and online through its award-winning programs that also include historic preservation, tax credits, archeology, state historic sites, and archives.
The Kansas Historical Foundation, a 501(c) (3), is a fund raising, fund management, membership, and retail organization, whose mission is to support the Historical Society, a state agency. Established together by newspapers editors in 1875, the organizations jointly hold the annual meeting to elect officers and board members.