GEORGETOWN, Del., Nov. 9, 2005 – Serving the people is a fundamental principle of government. And serve the people – especially those in need – is just what Sussex County Council did at its most recent meeting.
Council, at the Tuesday, Nov. 8, 2005, meeting, awarded more than $569,000 in budgeted grants to various organizations that will go toward everything from the construction of new buildings and helping fund research to feeding the hungry and supporting reading programs.
The County distributed two major checks to the University of Delaware and to Easter Seals. The University of Delaware received a $215,000 check, $100,000 of which will go toward the cost of constructing the new Elbert N. and Ann V. Carvel Research and Education Center building near Georgetown.
The remaining $115,000 UD received is the center’s annual funding from the county to pay for a variety of operational needs, including poultry and crop research and extension programs.
“It’s a tremendous asset to have local county support money,” said UD Research and Education Center Director Mark Isaacs, adding that waning federal funding in recent years makes dollars all that more important. “This allows us to continue to strengthen our extension and research programs so that we can continue to meet the needs of Sussex County residents.”
Council also presented Easter Seals with a check for $250,000, which will go toward the construction of a new facility along U.S. 113 in Georgetown. Council granted Easter Seals the same amount last fiscal year, for a total of $500,000.
The new center will put most of that organization’s Sussex County services, such as adult day care, physical/speech therapy and assisted technology resources, under one roof.
“Easter Seals extends a special thanks to the Sussex County Council for their generous gift of $250,000 this year for our new facility in Georgetown,” said David C. Doane, a local member of the Easter Seals board of directors.
“These councilmen and the communities they represent will help Easter Seals meet the unmet needs of children and adults with disabilities in the area,” Doane added. “We clearly would not be where we are – just months from completion of the building – without their dedication to assisting people with disabilities.”
Council also approved nearly $104,000 in human service grants at the Tuesday meeting. Those grants, most of them in $500 and $1,000 increments, will be distributed to more than 80 non-profit organizations throughout Sussex County, said Susan M. Webb, director of accounting for the county.
“We’re proud to be able to provide for our county residents, and the non-profit organizations that serve them,” Webb said. “Some of these organizations are so small that these grants mean a lot to them.”
Webb said the checks to those groups would be distributed in the next few weeks.
Sussex County Finance Director David B. Baker said the grants, in their various forms, would serve all of Sussex County’s residents. “These are a means of improving research and various social programs, things that benefit us all,” Baker said.