The Jackson County Visitor Center board of directors recently met and distributed four developmental grant awards and one promotional grant award to local organizations.
During a May 17 meeting, Executive Director Arann Banks presented checks to Steve Perry with Indigos Rescue Ranch and Sanctuary, Russell Fritz with the Freetown and Pershing Township Museum, Joy Stuckwisch with St. John’s Sauers Lutheran Church food stand, Lyle Lingenfelter with Hickory Hills Golf Club and Bob Bicknell with the Southern Indiana Model Railroad Association.
Perry, a volunteer at Indigos, accepted a $400 promotional grant check for the purpose of promoting a fundraising event for the facility in Medora.
“The mission of Indigos is to provide care, veterinarian treatment, food, shelter and fostering opportunities for Jackson County’s homeless and stray dogs,” Perry said. “For example, we got a call two days ago that a pit bull mother had been left out of a car with her puppies on the shoulder of the road, so Indigos was called and rescued the animals, and those animals are receiving vet care.”
Perry said the facility is in pretty rough shape right now, so they are sponsoring a poker run Aug. 5, starting at Black Swan Lake in the Norman area.
“The grant money you provided will help advertise this event and will hopefully draw enough people to raise funds for a new washer and dryer, a dog washing station and to upgrade the furnace,” he said. “Any financial support is appreciated.”
Promotional grants are available throughout the year for nonprofit groups to be used for websites or general brochures or to purchase advertising for an event. Those grants are discussed and approved during the visitor center’s monthly meeting held at noon on the third Wednesday of the month.
Representatives from the other organizations were at the meeting to accept checks for developmental grants.
That grant is a 1:1 funding match assistance to nonprofit groups, cities, counties or public organizations for new projects or enhancements designed to have a direct impact on Jackson County and tourism. The visitor center awards developmental grants in the spring and fall each year. The budget for each grant cycle is $20,000.
Fritz, curator of the Freetown and Pershing Township Museum, accepted a $2,500 check.
Located at 4784 W. State Road 58 in Freetown, the museum is a step back in time for history buffs or former and present residents of the area.
Fritz said people still bring in items to be displayed at the museum, which is a unique place and has a lot of information about Freetown.
“The buildings are over 100 years old, and they just continue to have problems, so I really appreciate the grant money,” he said. “The flooring in one of the buildings is causing issues, so we need to tear that out and fix it. Then the bison we got about seven years ago is deteriorating, so we need to strip it down and redo it.”
Fritz said the hours of the museum are 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Friday and Saturday or by appointment by calling 812-569-4529.
Stuckwisch said she and her husband, Greg, along with Pat and Karla Rieckers and Jeff and Susan Lorenzo are in charge of St. John’s Sauers food stand during the Jackson County Fair. She accepted a grant check for $10,000.
“We’re excited because we’ve demolished our old stand and we now have a new one going up,” Stuckwisch said. “We have concrete and walls, and we’re very appreciative of the community supporting our mission even outside of our church.”
She said funds raised from the stand supports St. John’s Sauers Lutheran School and the kids who go there, as the school is growing.
“We’re going to make some changes to our new stand and allow for more efficient work, and as we all know, workers are difficult to find,” Stuckwisch said. “People volunteer for that job, and so the schedules will be a little different.”
She said the breakfast hours during the weekends are the main thing that might be changing because of the amount of time it takes for workers to be there for breakfast.
“Overall, we’re very excited and looking at purchasing some new appliances, and we’re very appreciative of your support and for the grant,” Stuckwisch said. “This has been a long time coming, and we’re diligently working trying to save every penny.”
She said they hope to have the building done in early July so they can have a church service out there one Sunday and dedicate the stand.
Lingenfelter, golf professional at Hickory Hills Golf Club in Brownstown, said the organization recently applied for the grant after finding out about it. They received a grant award of $6,000.
“We have a very progressive board that’s interested in making the club better, and there are several things they had suggested as possibilities,” he said. “A golf simulator was one of those things we wanted to do that will allow us to utilize the facility a little bit in the wintertime and bring people in.”
He said they hope the simulator will help keep members engaged and they’ll keep coming to the club, and they also believe the simulator could interest people from other towns and counties.
“I know Shadowood Golf Course in Seymour has two simulators and they are always booked up,” Lingenfelter said. “They have activity out there in the winter when there normally wouldn’t be any, so we’re excited about that at Hickory Hills.”
Bicknell accepted a $1,500 check on behalf of the Southern Indiana Model Railroad Association.
He said they really appreciate the grant money.
“We have about 18 or 19 families involved with the youngest member going to be a third-grader this year and we have two in junior high and one freshman involved in the club,” Bicknell said. “The ages go all the way up to the young at heart like myself.”
To keep going every year, they’ve been trying to improve on the technology they use to run the trains and upgrading to more modernization, which is what the funds will be going toward, he said.
“Last year at our train show, we had 450 people come through over two Saturdays,” Bicknell said. “We’re trying to reach these kids and young adults in the community so they can have a hobby and keep their mind occupied, and that outreach is part of our goal.”