Riverboat grants exceed $4.7 million at annual award night

RIVERSIDE — Grant award night at the Washington County Riverboat Foundation is always a big occasion, as the casino-funded nonprofit distributes millions of dollars to area organizations in need of a boost.

Wednesday’s event was no exception, with $4,759,390 of checks announced from the foundation’s 2023 spring, fall and municipal grant cycles. While every recipient knew they’d won an award, none were told how much they’d walk away with at the end of the night, a suspense-building tradition of the foundation’s.

“It gets better and better every time, because our numbers keep going up,” WCRF Executive Director Patty Koller said. “It’s just so surreal that Washington County and the surrounding areas, that we could have this much money to give away to do these projects. You can go all over Washington County and see the results of the riverboat, the casino money. Everywhere has been touched.”

While last year’s ceremony featured a handful of grants that paid most of the price for flashy projects, this year’s selection seemed to focus more on smaller, but still sizable chunks of especially ambitious initiatives.

The city of Washington's Fire Department walked away with a $250,000 check, enough to cover about a quarter of the cost for a new pumper truck.

“This will allow us to pay for the chassis that comes in May, which will, in turn, save the city about $50,000 by prepaying that up front.” said Fire Chief Brendan DeLong.

Another winner of the evening from the county seat was the Washington Public Library, which secured $85,000 for its currently under-construction MakeITspace project in the building’s basement.

Library Director Cary Ann Siegfried said the money would pay for the space’s key furnishings.

“This is really the last piece of the puzzle,” she said. “This is what makes it real, because this is the equipment, this is the furniture, it’s the things people will actually use, so this is the really exciting part.”

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The long list of recipients was not limited to Washington County.

The Richland Area Child Care Organization received $172,194 to help finance interior work at its location in Keokuk County, a boost representatives said they were grateful for.

“We have the building that we have been gunning for, but we don’t have it furnished, or the playground equipment,” said Kerry Hadley, chair of the group’s board. “This will go in a huge direction toward getting it furnished for us.”

The Domestic Violence Intervention Program received a check for $288,216, covering a decent share of the organization’s $6.5 million plan to build a new shelter in Johnson County.

DVIP Director of Community Engagement Alta Medea said it was a massive boost.

“Our ‘Finding Hope, Building Safety’ campaign (will) double the capacity of our current emergency shelter,” she said. “Currently, we shelter between 350 and 400 folks every year, and divert to other programs or hotels about 400. So this will allow us to shelter all of those people.”

Adaptive Sports Iowa, a nonprofit that promotes sporting opportunities for people with physical disabilities, won $24,100 for specialized sporting equipment.

Group representative Jayden Staffer, who uses a wheelchair, said he was extremely grateful in a brief statement to the crowd.

“You’re going to help kids like myself … pursue career paths of playing sports and anything else we would like to do with our lives,” he said. “With this money, we gain access to sporting equipment to go to college, to play basketball, track, you name it. And kids like myself can get scholarships to play these sports at the collegiate level.”

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Not every award was so glamorous or expensive. The West Chester Lions Club received $2,207 for a new ice cream machine, while WCDC got a $7,950 check to buy a new cargo trailer. Healing at English River Outfitters (HERO) secured $2,336 for replacement gutters on their building.

That’s not to say the smaller grants weren’t impactful. One $5,000 grant, awarded to Keota Community Schools, paid for Automated External Defibrillators, or AEDs, which in spring lead to the schools’ designation as a “Heart Safe School” by the University of Iowa Children’s Hospital. A district representative at Wednesday night’s event said it was the 11th district to achieve that status in the state.

WCRF Board President Stephanie Sexton, serving as the event’s host for the first time, said the breadth of grant recipients was both intentional and impressive.

“The diversity of the groups that apply, and that we get to give money to, has been beyond what I had ever imagined,” she said. “The opportunity to not just do, say, the normal public service organizations but all the nonprofits, that has been tremendous. We’re just blessed to have this here in Washington County.”

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