$88 in grants help organizations across Morgan County
By Jean Cole
For the Enquirer
A tabletop library that teaches kids about growing food and producing textiles, eight portable defibrillators for emergency heart patients, and building improvements for a Christian center were just some of the Morgan County projects funded by an $88,402 grant announced Sept. 18.
With money from the state Legislature, Alabama’s Mountains, Rivers & Valleys Resource, Conservation & Development Council (RC&D) announced the awards to 10 recipients last week at the Morgan County Board of Education in Priceville.
The following grants were issued: $26,369 to Neighborhood Christian Center of Alabama to upgrade its aged facilities, including plumbing and foundation work.
$10,000 to Morgan County Schools for eight automated external defibrillators (AEDs) – to potentially save lives in the schools.
$10,000 to Pawz It, a Morgan County pet spay and neuter program.
$10,000 to Somerville Public Library to replace and refurbish outdated books and materials.
$7,500 to North Alabama Trails & Recreation for OuterSpatial, a pilot program for a computer application planning tool that lets hikers and other tourists know exactly what to expect and what amenities are available on any Morgan County excursion.
$6,003 to Morgan County Soil and Water Conservation District for agricultural learning stations for city and county elementary schools in Morgan County.
$5,017 to Alabama Cooperative Extension to send kids to the national youth livestock judging event.
$5,000 to Crestline Elementary School to buy picnic tables for the new outdoor classroom.
$5,000 to TLC Recovery House, a halfway house for women overcoming substance abuse disorders, for the TLC recovery graduate house, which will give women more time to prepare for the outside world.
$3,513 to International Crane Foundation for whooping crane education and outreach.
Highlights Emily Wallace, director of the Somerville Public Library, has been on the job two years and one of the things she learned as soon as she got there was the collection was seriously outdated.
“We had a lot of damaged books and books that really never should have been there – like kid’s books out of Happy Meals,” Wallace said. “Most of our collection is from donations over the past few decades, so we really wanted to do an overhaul.” She said the $10,000 grant from RC&D will help them do that. They spent months making a list of books they wanted to add or replace. Although the town of Somerville has a population of 800, the library has more than 3,000 patrons, she said.
“We were able to add 1,230 new books into our collection, about $8 per book on average,” Wallace said. The library gained 80 new patrons after announcing on Facebook new books had been added and replaced in the collection, she said.
“It’s really given a new life to the public library,” Wallace said. “A lot of smaller libraries get overlooked. We depend on grants both small and large.” Crystal Steelman, of TLC Recovery House in Somerville, said her nonprofit allows women “to have a clean, safe, loving, affordable environment to become productive members of society and, hopefully, stay productive.” The $10,000 grant will be used for the graduate house, which will give women more time to adapt before heading back out into the world again. Specifically, the grant will be used for the septic tank, light pole and some of the building cost for the facility, which will open next month, she said.
The current TLC recovery program is nine months long, and “sometimes nine months is not enough,” Steelman said. “This will give them six to eight more months to get a safe, doable exit plan.” Morgan County Schools used a $10,000 grant to buy eight more AED units. Sarah Wellborn, lead nurse for Morgan County Schools, said the schools have 67 AED units but they have an eightyear warranty and so must be replaced periodically in batches to keep them up to date.
The Neighborhood Christian Center received the largest grant at $26,369. Center Director Pamela Bolding said the downtown Bank Street building is more than 100 years old and needs repair.
Freezing weather in 2022 caused water damage from the top floor down. While that damage was being repaired with insurance money an expert advised the aged ceramic pipes had caused damage, leaving the foundation sinking and rendering the back of the building unsafe. The center provides food, clothing, housing, utilities assistance and teaches classes at the Morgan County Jail during the week. The center helps women get back on their feet after emerging from incarceration and it provides a home for single moms and their children in Morgan and surrounding counties.
Amy Shelton of Morgan County Soil and Water Conservation District used a $6,003 grant to buy 23 tabletop bookshelves, one for each elementary school, which are filled with agriculture-related children’s books. They are like mini libraries about how food is produced and where our clothing comes from.
Sen. Arthur Orr, R-Decatur, said it is through the RC&D council that money moves from the Legislature down to the local level.
“At the state level, you fund these gargantuan organizations like the Department of Human Resources and the Department of Mental Health and prisons, but you guys live here, stay here and are part of our community and we are tickled to be able to support you.”
