Primghar, Iowa — Last month we told you about the desire by Seasons Center in Spencer to acquire a 159 acre O’Brien County farm, including a 30-acre man-made lake, to use as a therapeutic camp for children. This past Tuesday, that desire came one step closer to reality.
The O’Brien County Board of Supervisors adopted a resolution at their weekly meeting which authorizes an application for a Community Development Block Grant, or CDBG, to help fund the project. O’Brien County’s participation is necessary because a governmental entity must apply for a CDBG, according to Season’s Center’s Christina Eggink-Postma.
The Board of Supervisors Resolution states that O’Brien County supports Seasons Center’s efforts to purchase the property, and provide expanded health and behavior services on the property, which is located at 4233 Yew Avenue near Sutherland, for children and their families in O’Brien County and northwest Iowa. O’Brien County also agreed to have Northwest Iowa Planning and Development Commission help Seasons Center prepare and submit the CDBG application, and perform the CDBG administration, should the grant be awarded. The resolution states that there is need for such a camp, since there is only other camp in Iowa that serves special needs children that provides therapeutic services to high need children, and application to that camp is limited to specific schools in eastern Iowa. The Supervisors authorization was passed unanimously.
Eggink-Postma says the purchase of the land is planned in phases, and this CDBG would help Seasons Center move forward with the first phase. She says that, without this Community Development Block Grant funding, Seasons Center would need to revisit other funding options in order to keep moving forward with plans for the camp.
