Serving Mackinaw, Illinois since 2020

Mackinaw Mail

Hopedale Betterment Association

The Hopedale Betterment Association is an organization that seeks to serve and improve the quality of life in Hopedale. They run the Hopedale Happenings Facebook page that shares information about upcoming “happenings” in Hopedale. With the Hopedale Happenings Facebook page, the Hopedale Betterment Association is able to provide a very open source for communication amongst Hopedale community members, giving them even just a slightly increased quality of living. The Hopedale Betterment Association also offers a $500 scholarship to high school seniors within the Olympia School District. They also have sponsored town-wide garage sales, euchre tournaments, Hopedale birthday calendars, farmers market, maintained Hopedale Business Directory, and donated to the village for flowers planted on Main Street. 

The $500 scholarship that is offered to high school seniors in the Olympia School District is probably one of the most popular things that the Hopedale Betterment Association is known for. This scholarship has impacted many students over the years. The Hopedale Betterment Association believes that improving the quality of life in Hopedale starts with the youth in the community, which lead them to start this scholarship. They look for a senior that has shown leadership through extracurricular and community activities and vision for the future of the community. Applications for the scholarship are judged based on SAT scores, class standing, counselor’s recommendation, other favorable recommendations, community involvement, extracurricular involvement, and an essay regarding what you would do to improve the community of Hopedale. The Betterment Association is always looking for ways to improve Hopedale and ways of encouraging positivity, which is exactly what the scholarship has done. 

The Hopedale Betterment Association also hosts annual meetings in May that are open to the community. Their one goal is to better the community of Hopedale, so by having these open meetings, community members have an opportunity to voice any ideas they may have to improve the community. Based on my experiences in the town, Hopedale’s Betterment Association has been doing a great job. 

Do you know of an organization or individual that the rest of the area should know about? Send your suggestions or recommendations for our weekly Community Spotlight to editor@themailnewspapers.com.


Hayden Stork
Correspondent, Columnist

Hayden Stork was a Mail Correspondent covering the Olympia communities starting in February 2021, and was the Mail Sports Columnist from August 2021 until July 2022. He is from Danvers, Illinois.