County to distribute FEMA money to non-profit groups

GRANT COUNTY — Linda Finlay's food bank has applied for money through the Federal Emergency Management Agency every year for at least the last two decades.

Finlay is the executive director of Community Services of Moses Lake, a food bank that serves not only Moses Lake, but Warden, Wilson Creek and other Grant County areas without a food bank.

Finlay's agency is one of about a dozen agencies that apply each year for FEMA money distributed through Grant County.

"It is a great type of program," Finlay said, "and I certainly encourage anyone that is in that type of agency that they need to apply."

Finlay said that her food bank serves about 11,000 people each month, and about 1,400 families use the food bank regularly. Community services of Moses Lake and other food banks operate on tight budgets, Finlay said, and the money from FEMA comes to her food bank just after the end of the holiday season.

"It just gives us a real boost that all food banks need," Finlay said.

Grant County has received $66,159 in federal funds under the Emergency Food and Shelter National Board Program through FEMA. The program is designed to supplement emergency food and shelter programs in the area. Food banks, senior center and groups like the Salvation Army use the money for their ongoing operations.

JoAnne Francis, who works with the Grant County FEMA board, said the county receives the money each year. She said that some of the applying organizations would not be able to operate without the FEMA grant money.

"It lets them do more than they could otherwise by a long shot," Francis said.

Francis said in a press release that organizations that apply for the funds must do so before Jan. 13 and also have to meet a few guidelines. Government and private voluntary organizations chosen to receive funds must be nonprofit, have an accounting system and conduct an annual audit and practice nondiscrimination. Francis also said that groups that will receive funds must have already demonstrated their capability to deliver emergency food or shelter programs. Private volunteer organizations that

apply for funds should also have a voluntary board, Francis said.

Roxanna Pierce is the Soap Lake Food Bank coordinator and she said that her food bank would not be able to operate without money through FEMA, United Way and other groups like Northwest Harvest. Pierce said the Soap Lake Food Bank feeds as many as 1,500 people each month, and she said the FEMA money goes to buy non-perishable items that can be kept from one week to the next.

The Grant County FEMA Board will meet to hear the requests for funds at 2:30 p.m. Jan. 27, at the County Commissioner's Hearing Room in the Grant County Courthouse.

For more information on available FEMA funds, contact the Grant County Courthouse by mail at P.O. Box 37 Ephrata, WA, at 754-2011, ext. 0. The deadline to request funding is Jan. 13.