Community Foundation doles out $118K

By ANDREW MCGINN
a.mcginn@beeherald.com

The Greene County Community Foundation will fund a new livestock barn at the fairgrounds, Wi-Fi in Grand Junction’s soon-to-be-built community center, a 10-panel brochure promoting the historic Lincoln Highway in Greene County, an improved selection of nonfiction books at the Paton library and more.

The foundation Monday night awarded $118,097 to 17 projects during its annual grant awards celebration at First Presbyterian Church in Jefferson.

“Let’s give some money away,” foundation President Tim Heisterkamp said, calling the Greene County Fair Association to come on down to claim the first of two checks that night for $30,000 — the evening’s grand prize.

The fair association is in the process of replacing the swine, sheep and cattle barns at the Greene County Fairgrounds.

A project with a total cost of $639,100, the $30,000 from the foundation “gives us a stepping stone to get our second building started,” spokesman Bob Allen said.

“It’s very humbling the amount of support we’ve had,” he added, noting that the project will benefit generations of 4-H’ers.

The evening’s other check for $30,000 went to the Greene County Conservation Board for the paving of 10 gravel intersections of the Raccoon River Valley bike trail between Jefferson and the Guthrie County line.

“The better the trail, the better our chances of getting bikers to come into Jefferson,” Heisterkamp said.

In  all, the 17 nonprofit organizations receiving grants Monday requested more than $1 million for projects designed to improve the quality of life countywide.

Each recipient Monday briefly talked about their plans for the money.

Visitors to the iconic Mahanay Bell Tower will be able to use credit cards thanks to an iPad the Bell Tower Community Foundation plans to buy with its grant.

Low-income Paton-Churdan students will be able to fight off weekend hunger — and show up Monday prepared to learn — with innovative “Rocket Weekend Fuel Packs” the district hopes will catch on and be a pilot program for more schools.

“Small-town Iowa is alive,” Gale Zellweger, president of the Scranton Community Center Advisory Board, was inspired to say after hearing about the plans. “These are some great stories. These are stories Des Moines doesn’t know about.”

The foundation was required by the state to award $89,214 this year to worthy projects — or 75 percent of the $121,923 it received from the state in 2014 in casino profits earmarked for “nongaming” counties.

Obviously, with the $40 million Wild Rose Jefferson casino taking shape at the corner of U.S. Highway 30 and Iowa Highway 4, things are about to change.

This was the 10th — and final — year the Greene County Community Foundation had state money to hand out.

This time next year, Greene County will officially be a “gaming” county, with charitable funds generated by the 525 slot machines and 14 table games at Wild Rose.

Those charitable funds will first go to the Grow Greene County Gaming Corp., the nonprofit that holds the gaming license in Greene County, then flow out from there.

Grow Greene County will receive 5 percent of Wild Rose’s adjusted gross revenue — an estimated $1.5 million per year.

Up to 20 percent — about $300,000 — has been promised to Greene County’s six contiguous neighbor counties, a political calculation designed to win approval of the casino last summer from state regulators.

That leaves an estimated $1.2 million annually to benefit Greene County organizations and projects.

Funds will become available in the spring of 2016.

Grow Greene County President Norm Fandel on Monday said that the organization has already made funding commitments, but couldn’t say more because they haven’t been finalized.

But when Grow Greene County does begin to distribute funds, “Community Foundation will be our first one,” he said.

The foundation currently has to distribute 75 percent of what it gets annually from the state, but can also distribute 5 percent of its endowment.

After a decade, that endowment stands at $635,746 — an even mix of state gaming revenue and private donations.

Some applicants this year couldn’t be funded, according to Heisterkamp.

“We’ll see how that changes going forward,” he said.

The complete list of 2015 Greene County Community Foundation grant awards:

• Greene County Fair Association — $30,000 to replace swine, sheep and cattle barns.

• Greene County Conservation Board — $30,000 to provide a continuous, hard-surfaced bike trail by paving 10 intersections between Jefferson and Guthrie County.

• Grand Junction Community Center — $10,000 to add audio, security and Wi-Fi systems.

• Paton-Churdan Community School District — $5,234 to send bags of child-friendly food home (“Rocket Weekend Fuel Packs”) with low-income students for use over the weekend during the 2015-16 school year.

• Heart of Iowa Habitat for Humanity — $7,000 to continue home repairs for low-income homeowners.

• Scranton Community Center Advisory Board — $7,000 to remodel a kitchen in the center.

• Greene County Early Learning Center — $6,861 to increase enrollment of children 2 and younger by purchasing age-appropriate classroom equipment.

• Churdan Public Library — $2,380 to replace computers, add books and move a sign.

• Bell Tower Community Foundation — $4,627 for updates and enhancements of the tower lobby.

• Grand Junction Senior Housing Board — $4,500 to replace windows and doors on six senior housing buildings (29 apartments in all).

• Iowa Lincoln Highway Association — $2,406 for the creation of a folded, 10-panel brochure of Greene County tourism sites.

• William Paton Public Library — $1,125 to update adult nonfiction area with new shelves and books.

• Sierra Community Theatre — $2,060 to begin a major insulation project to increase energy efficiency.

• RSVP 55+ of Boone and Greene Counties — $800 to update a computer to track volunteers in Greene County.

• City of Rippey — $1,575 to purchase a defibrillator for the community center.

• Friends of Rippey — $1,529 to create a summer program for Rippey-area youth.

• PAWS of Greene County — $1,000 to purchase and install a washer and dryer for the animal shelter.