HANCOCK COUNTY – An emergency shelter, childcare ministry and shared space for nonprofit organizations are the beneficiaries of nearly $2 million in federal pandemic relief funds.
The awards come from the $15 million Hancock County received from the American Rescue Plan, meant to help governments and their constituents in the wake of COVID-19. Of those funds, county officials have earmarked $3 million for county nonprofit organizations, $6 million for a wastewater infrastructure project and $5 million toward mental health initiatives.
Earlier this year, the Hancock County Commissioners approved just over $1 million of the $3 million for nonprofits to over 20 organizations for projects small to mid-range in scale, leaving almost $2 million for “transformational opportunities.” The Hancock County Community Foundation has been helping the commissioners with their decision-making process for the funds for nonprofits.
Four applicants submitted funding requests for transformational opportunities totaling more than double the amount of funds available. This week, the county commissioners approved full funding for one, partial funding for two and no funding for one. Amounts include nearly $250,000 to Mt. Comfort Church for an emergency shelter, almost $730,000 to Meals on Wheels of Hancock County for a shared space for local nonprofit organizations, and $1 million for Realife Church to expand its STEAM Academy. Evangel Church, which sought funding for a homeless shelter, was not among the awards. The commissioners’ decisions followed presentations from the four applicants earlier this month.
Mt. Comfort Church was awarded its full request of almost $250,000 for The Comfort House. The project calls for renovating the church’s parsonage at its Philadelphia campus into an emergency short-term housing option. The living space will be increased to 2,000 square feet to support two families or one large, multi-generational family. Units will be fully furnished and move-in ready for families displaced from their homes in instances of fire, flood, nonviolent domestic abuse situations, falling behind on rent or mortgage, and other emergencies.
Pastor Ethan Maple of Mt. Comfort Church said he’s grateful to the commissioners for their decision and the community foundation for its assistance in the process.
“It really opened up our eyes to see how The Comfort House could really step into one of those gaps the county and community have in housing insecurity,” Maple said.
He anticipates demolition work starting in January and expects the project to take six to eight months, ideally culminating in a grand opening and house blessing in fall 2023.
Meals on Wheels of Hancock County was awarded nearly $730,000 of its request of over $1.2 million for Circle of Care. The project calls for renovating the building at 312 E. Main St. in Greenfield into an accessible, collaborative nonprofit center. Multiple direct-service providers will be in one building, reducing access barriers for clients.
The community foundation is currently located in that building, but is moving into Realife Church’s former location at 971 W. U.S. 40 and has gifted the property to Meals on Wheels in support of the Circle of Care vision.
Meals on Wheels is already located in the property and will anchor Circle of Care. Also slated to have a presence there are Families United for Support and Encouragement, the Hancock County Children’s Choir, Hancock County Firefly, Hancock County Leaders in Navigating Knowledge, Healthy 365 and WorkOne.
Lynda Kosh, executive director of Meals on Wheels of Hancock County, said she was blown away by the decision.
“I work on lots of grants for Meals on Wheels of course and have been fairly successful, but this grant wasn’t just about Meals on Wheels, it’s about the larger nonprofit community, so it did have a little bit of a weighty feel to it” Kosh said. “Knowing that it is successful for the benefit of the community to be able to do something transformational just really excites me.”
She added that despite not being awarded the full request, the funding will allow for the majority of components making up the project.
“I know we will be able to do all of the construction and reconfiguration of the property to make more space for nonprofits, and also make it accessible for those with disabilities,” she said.
Realife Church was awarded $1 million of its request for over $1.5 million to expand its STEAM Academy. The weekday childcare ministry for children 6 weeks through pre-K provides Christian curriculum that includes kindergarten readiness and STEAM – science, technology, engineering, arts and math. With an enrollment of over 70 and about 30 on a waiting list, the academy looks to expand to open nearly 200 new childcare/preschool seats, hire 10 new employees and achieve a Paths to Quality Level 4 certification within a year.
The funding award will still allow for a full renovation, but requires cuts to the initial request from areas like personnel furnishings and a play area while also delaying the hiring of more staff.
The community foundation prepared several scenarios for the commissioners to consider on how to divide the funds. While discussing the scenario the commissioners ended up approving, community foundation president and CEO Mary Gibble said she and her colleagues combed applications to identify partial funding that would allow the projects to be successful. The foundation also asked applicants to provide tiered funding if possible. Gibble noted Evangel Church did not present any partial funding scenarios that would allow its project to be successful.
Evangel Church requested over $1.2 million to build a 6,000-square-foot homeless shelter called Safe Haven with a capacity of 60 or more.
Gibble said while that cause is very worthy, the foundation had concerns about the shelter achieving long-term sustainability after receiving the funding to get built. Hancock County Commissioner Bill Spalding shared that concern.
Pastor Jody Ballenger of Evangel Church described the outcome as “heartbreaking.” He recalled the several months of work that went into the proposal, including meeting with multiple organizations and forging relationships with other entities to further help those the shelter would benefit.
Ballenger added he and his colleagues had concerns about Safe Haven’s sustainability too, but were willing to sacrifice to bring it to fruition. He said they believed that once it got built, the community would rally around its success.
Part of the motion the commissioners voted on for approving the funding included requesting that the Hancock County Council explore funding the nearly $527,000 remainder of Realife Church’s request. The motion also included a desire to continue discussion among the commissioners, council and other stakeholders on Evangel Church’s idea for the homeless shelter.
County American Rescue Plan funding decisions
Realife STEAM Academy expansion: $1 million
Evangel Church – construction of homeless shelter: $0
Mt. Comfort Church – emergency shelter: $249,375
Meals on Wheels of Hancock County – shared nonprofit space: $728,708.12
Total: $1,978,083.12
