Larchwood, Iowa — Over $450,000 was given to non-profits and government groups on Tuesday night by the Lyon County Riverboat Foundation.
The competitive grants are announced twice a year, in February and October.
Foundation officials say they gave 22 grants totaling $463,425.36 for their Spring 2017 Competitive Grants program. They say that seven of these grants were to projects to which they committed funding in previous grant cycles. Those grants totaled $204,450. Fifteen new grants were given, totaling $258,975.36.
The new grants ranged from nearly $78,000 toward field lighting for the Larchwood Baseball Club to a little over $1,200 toward first aid kits for the Lyon County Sheriff’s Office.
Other grants went to the cities of Rock Rapids and Lester for generators; to the City of George for a pool playground project; to the Lyon County Fair Association toward a grandstand project; to the Food Bank of Siouxland toward their mobile food pantry; to Central Lyon Schools toward the purchase of drums; to the Rock Rapids Congregational Church toward a cooling project; to Lyon County Conservation for a 3D archery project; to the Little Rock Town and Country Club toward a ball field update; to Iowa State University Extension and Outreach – Lyon County toward DASH coding robots; to the George American Legion Post 404 toward an Avenue of Flags update; and to the City of Rock Rapids toward pool safety training equipment.
The foundation also gave $10,000 to the G.I.V.E. Foundation, which, according to their web site, is a non-for-profit organization to provide a structured golf program for injured Veterans. The Grand Falls Casino & Golf Resort is working with the Sioux Falls VA and the Area PGA (the Professional Golf Association) with this program.
The Lyon County Riverboat Foundation is the non-profit license holder for the Grand Falls Casino near Larchwood. State law mandates a certain percentage of the casino’s gaming take has to go back to the community. The agreement between the casino and the non-profit stipulates that for the first $20 million the casino collects in gambling winnings in a year, they will give the foundation 4.5 percent. When they get up to $20 million, the percentage goes up to 4.75 percent; and when they get up to $30 million, it goes to 5 percent. Half of the funds are given in this competitive grant process and the other half goes directly to the county’s cities, schools, and county government.
| Entity | Project | Grant | |
| Larchwood Baseball Club | Field Lights | $77,960.00 | |
| City of Rock Rapids | Standby Generator | $75,334.00 | |
| City of Lester | EM Back-up (gen) | $22,807.87 | |
| City of George | Pool Playground | $18,572.00 | |
| Lyon County Fair Association | Grandstand RR | $14,832.41 | |
| G.I.V.E. Foundation | 3rd Annual Charity Golf | $10,000.00 | |
| Food Bank of Siouxland | Mobile Food Pantry | $10,000.00 | |
| Central Lyon CSD | Drums | $5,568.60 | |
| Congregational Church | Cooling Project | $5,000.00 | |
| Lyon County Conservation Foundation | 3D archery | $4,904.14 | |
| Little Rock Town and Country Club | Ball Field Update | $4,575.00 | |
| Lyon County Extension | DASH Coding Robots | $3,916.65 | |
| Am Legion Post #404 George | Avenue of Flags Update | $2,771.30 | |
| City of Rock Rapids | Pool Safety | $1,445.00 | |
| Lyon County Sheriff | First Aid kits | $1,288.39 | |
| Total: | $258,975.36 |
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| UNPAID | ||||||||||
| Award | Total | per | 16-Mar | 16-Sep | BALANCE | 17-Mar | 17-Mar | |||
| Season | Project | Awarded | Cycles | Cycle | as of 1.18.17 | |||||
| Sp 2012 | Inwood Aquatic Center | $750,000 | 20 | $37,500 | $37,500 | $37,500 | $375,000 | $37,500 | 11 of 20 | |
| Sp 2013 | Kids Club RR | $750,000 | 20 | $37,500 | $37,500 | $37,500 | $450,000 | $37,500 | 9 of 20 | |
| Sp 2013 | Larch-Sioux Fire District | $492,500 | 11 | $33,200 | $33,200 | $33,200 | $99,600 | $33,200 | 9 of 11 | |
| Fa 2013 | Fellowship Village | $250,000 | 10 | $25,000 | $25,000 | $25,000 | $75,000 | $25,000 | El of 10 | |
| Fa 2013 | City of LR | $162,500 | 10 | $16,250 | $16,250 | $16,250 | $48,750 | $16,250 | 8 of 10 | |
| Sp 2015 | Doon VFD | $262,899 | 10 | $37,899 (1st) | $25,000 | $25,000 | $150,000 | $25,000 | 5 of 10 | |
| $25,000 (2-10) | ||||||||||
| Fa 2015 | City Of RR Flood Hazard Mitigation |
$300,000 | 10 | $30,000 | $30,000 | $30,000 | $210,000 | $30,000 | 4 of 10 | |
| $1,408,350 | ||||||||||
| TOTALS | $204,450 | |||||||||
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