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Congratulations to the winners of the nearly $80,000 in community grants handed out last week by the Cass County Community Foundation.
The grants will help a number of organizations to carry out their important work.
The Salvation Army, for example, got more than $14,000 to pay for the installation of a security system and to make the restrooms in its new building accessible to the handicapped.
Logansport Youth Baseball, on the other hand, got more than $13,000 to pay for safety netting, and the Grissom Air Museum got $10,000 for a handicap-accessible trail around its outdoor displays. The Lucerne Lions Club got more than $9,000 to pay for a basketball court while Emmaus Mission Center got $9,000 to carry out an audit of its 2009 operating budget. And that’s just the top five.
Volunteer fire departments in Galveston and Royal Center got grants of $5,000 each to pay for equipment purchases. Logan’s Landing and Cass-Pulaski Community Corrections for $5,000 for a greenhouse and planter project, and the Logansport High School Music Boosters got more than $4,000 to replace percussion equipment.
The Walton Main Street Organization and Friends of the Walton Library got $4,000 to buy equipment to provide wireless Internet service at the library.
Over the years, the foundation's community grants have funded a jazz festival, a library computer system and skits for high school students on the dangers of abusive relationships. All together, the foundation has awarded nearly $2 million over the past 13 years. Last year, the grants paid for a new roof at the Emmaus Mission Center and helped to fund the new animal shelter now under construction by the Cass County Humane Society. Most of these projects are things that simply wouldn’t have happened without the help of the foundation.
And the grants are made possible through the generosity of Cass County residents who make unrestricted gifts to allow the foundation to meet community needs as they arise.
Thanks to the foundation and to its donors for their support of these worthwhile endeavors. Particularly in these difficult economic times, the support provided by this latest round of grants will be particularly welcome.
