photograph of journal file
The county commissioner just lately used federal pandemic reduction {dollars} to award 9 native meals pantry grants.
Pantry was awarded over $77,000 in whole out of the $100,000 the county put aside for grants. The funding comes from her $31 million pool acquired by Johnson County from the federal American Reduction Plan Act in 2021.
The Johnson County Fee unanimously accredited and introduced the pantry to obtain the grant at its December 19 assembly.
The 9 pantries awarded embody: New Whiteland’s Nice Harvest Meals Pantry, $2,275. Harvest Meals Pantry in St. Francis and Clare, $1,195. Interchurch Meals Pantry, $38,729. Johnson County Senior Providers, $15,405. New Life Fellowship Church of God in Whiteland, $29.40. Our Woman of Greenwood Meals Pantry, $8,428. Franklin Hub, $6,889. Greenwood’s The Refuge, $2,704.
Reaching the purpose of awarding the grant is the results of a months-long technique of county officers and the Johnson County Group Basis determining find out how to cut up the cash and find out how to get it to certified pantries.
The $100,000 grant program was first accredited in June by the County ARPA Fee, which consists of three commissioners and three members of the Johnson County Council. The commissioner and council accredited the allocation of funds instantly after passing the ARPA committee, however the software course of took months of labor.
County Councilman Ron Deer spearheaded the challenge and led the event of the applying course of. He spent months working with the county lawyer and the Johnson County Group Basis on processes and purposes to fill out for Hood his pantry to obtain cash.
Discussions continued on the June-December ARPA Fee conferences, the place members mentioned how the funds can be distributed among the many proposed meals pantries. The query was whether or not the cash might be distributed evenly to those that utilized, or whether or not it might be calculated based mostly on the scale and wishes of every pantry.
The Johnson County Group Basis participated as a 3rd occasion to help in receiving grant purposes and managing the method. Officers have decided that the easiest way to take care of equity is to separate grants based mostly on measurement and want. Pantries have been evaluated utilizing a system displaying how many individuals served every over a 34-month interval.
Within the course of, Shika argued that native meals pantries should be supported.
“The truth is, demand is 14% larger than in 2021. Interchurch Meals Pantry paperwork, for instance, say demand is up 60%. Clearly there’s a want,” stated Deer. says.
Shika wasn’t capable of see the entire course of by to the top attributable to some private well being points. Nevertheless, he was completely happy to see the work bear fruit.
“I recognize what the Commissioner is pondering of doing and all that we’ve been engaged on,” Deer stated.
