Brandon Sun By: Tyler Clarke Advertisement Tallying up the final numbers for 2020, Brandon Area Community Foundation executive director Laura Kempthorne said the end result was "shocking." The foundation granted a record-breaking $1,052,065 last year, marking the first time in their 55-year history they’ve broken $1 million. "It wasn’t something we planned out to do, at all," Kempthorne said — quite the contrary. When the pandemic hit early last year, uncertainty clouded whatever plans they might have otherwise had for the year. Looking back, she said the COVID-19 pandemic and the hardships it brought many people might have actually contributed to the foundation’s success.