Roundup for Safety awards 10 community grants
The Roundup for Safety Board awarded a total of $46,600 in community safety grants to nonprofit organizations at its April 14 meeting.
One of the grants awarded included a $4,500 request from the Kalispell Fire Department for new “stat packs,” or hygienic personal protective equipment bags for first responders and medics.
Firefighter Luke Butler told the board that the fire department frequently serves the Kalispell community as first responders and medics. First-year firefighters at the Kalispell department are charged with executing a project to benefit the community they serve, prompting Butler to apply for the Roundup community safety grant. Butler noted that the department’s existing medic kits had “long outlived their usefulness and posed cross-contamination threats to patients and firefighters alike.”
The board also granted a $10,000 request from the Community Foundation for a Better Bigfork. The group, which assists in many matters for unincorporated Bigfork, sought funds to replace the downtown “clocktower” building’s emergency fire exit stairs.
“Currently, we cannot use the stairs as they may fail at any moment. The handrail is not safe to use as any pressure against it will cause it to fall away from the stairs,” CFBB Board Member Paul Mutascio said during his presentation. The building is home to the Bigfork Art and Cultural Center and the ImagineIF Library’s Bigfork branch.
Other projects funded during the April meeting included: The Patrol Fund, avalanche dog deployment pack for $2,700; A Ray of Hope, men’s and women’s shelter security cameras fo $4,000; Northwest Montana Historical Society, entrance security cameras for $4,000; Farming for the Future Academy, no dig fence and bear guard for $4,500; Three Rivers EMS, vacuum mattresses for $4,400; Flathead Lutheran Bible Camp, life jackets for $2,000; Libby Assembly of God, kitchen fire suppression system for $6,000; and Columbia Falls Youth Softball Association, fencing for $4,500.
Roundup for Safety is a voluntary program for Flathead Electric Cooperative members who allow their electric bills to be rounded up to the next dollar, with the extra money going into a fund for community safety projects proposed by nonprofit organizations and considered by an independent board.
To date in 2022, the Roundup for Safety Board has distributed $118,221 in community safety project funding. Grants are considered each month. Applications are due April 30 and accepted on Flathead Electric Co-op's website. The Roundup for Safety Board next meets on May 12. For additional information about the program, visit www.flatheadelectric.com/roundup or call Courtney Stone at 406-751-1820.