City Council Grants Finance Requests Using Leftover FY17 Nonprofit Funding

logo-w-sunburstKayla Desroches/KMXT

The Kodiak City Council recently agreed to help a couple of nonprofits using money left over from its Fiscal Year 2017 nonprofit funding. The Kodiak Audubon Society and the Kodiak Island Food Bank filed letters of interest this month, and representatives from both groups made an appearance at the council work session last night to state their cases.

During public comment, Claudia Anderson stepped up to the head of the table. She said she’s on the board of the Audubon Society, a group which hosts several hikes every weekend during the summer months. Volunteers lead new and weathered hikers up mountains like Barometer and Pyramid, but also throw in some more leisurely walks.

Over the last couple of years the Audubon has introduced waivers for hikers to sign prior to the field trips. At the meeting, Anderson said the group needs help paying for its insurance, its costliest expenditure.

“Ever since 2004 when we started selling waterproof Kodiak trail maps, we’ve been able to keep up with our expenses, but this year Discover Kodiak put out a free non-waterproof map, and as of the end of July, our gross sales compared to the previous year, were down $1000 from last year at the same time.”

Therefore, the Audubon asked for roughly $1,700 to direct to its insurance expenses.

At the work session, Johnny Walker from the Kodiak Island Food Bank also defended his organization’s appeal for more finances. He requested an additional $5,000 on top of the roughly $5,000 the Food Bank and Kodiak Baptist Mission had already received.

“As the economy worsens, we’re starting to see the food bank I guess become a lifeline for more people, so it just becomes a never-ending circle, so that’s why I’ve asking you to consider another grant to the Food Bank.”

In a letter included in the meeting packet, Walker writes that the food bank has seen its monthly number of clients “exceed that of any month in the past 12 years.”

For fiscal year 2017, the city council received a total grant request of about $177,000 from all nonprofits and was able to fund the entire amount out of its budgeted $184,500. That left roughly $7,000 to spare.

As both the Audubon and Food Bank’s needs fit within that amount, the Council agreed it would move forward on those awards at a regular meeting in the near future.

In the interest of full disclosure, Kodiak Public Broadcasting receives city funds.

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