Six Greene County entities were surprised with several thousands of dollars in grants from a non-profit organization Wednesday evening.
Grow Greene County Gaming Corporation (GGCGC) gave out $30,000 as part of its Give Back Awards that took place at Journey Financial. According to the non-gaming license holder for Wild Rose Casino in Jefferson, $6,000 went to the food pantry in Jefferson, Greene County Action Resource Center (ARC), Greene County New Opportunities, Greene County Adopt-A-Family and Greene County Congregate Meals. Then, GGCGC gave $4,000 to the Greene County School District for their Backpack program and $2,000 to the Paton-Churdan School District for their Rocket Pack program.
GGCGC stated the final surprise of the evening was an additional $5,000 to the ARC, due to the greater need and the rising prices of groceries. GGCGC President Norm Fandel said they continue to do this kind of effort because they can select certain groups that typically need an additional boost of money during the holiday season that they can’t do during their annual grant ceremony in April.
“Thankfully, the casino’s been doing very, very well the last few years, that offers this ability for us to come back and give some dollars that have at Christmas time and Thanksgiving time, and a time of giving.”
Fandel described his favorite part of doing this kind of donation.
“Knowing that these people been working so hard throughout the year and trying to meet a goal, achieve what they want to and accomplish a mission that they’ve been working on, especially with the holidays coming, and knowing that we can come in and give them financial support, and seeing their eyes light up, knowing that they can accomplish what they set out. You know, this time of year you’re always kind of hitting a shortfall of funding, especially with the rising cost of food and everything else, you can kind of help bridge that gap.
Fandel added that this was the most amount of money that GGCGC has handed out for their Give Back Awards that started in 2016.