Three communities in the Raccoon Valley Radio-listening area recently received grant funds to spruce up some areas.

Paint Iowa Beautiful and Diamond Vogel awarded 154 counties and communities with free paint for several public service projects. The William Paton Public Library in Paton was one of the recipients in Greene County for paint to be used around the outside of the library’s windows. The City of Menlo was one of two grant recipients in Guthrie County for paint for 16 fire hydrants, along with parking lines and handicap parking spots on the downtown streets. The other Guthrie County grant awardee was FireFly Creek Ranch in Guthrie Center. They will use paint for the exterior front and side of the former state mental institution facility. 

April is designated as Keep Iowa Beautiful Month and in its 19 year history the grant program has awarded 12,564 gallons of paint to 1,286 communities.