Local groups receive funding to help with COVID-19
COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)
Several Mid-Missouri organizations received thousands of dollars to help amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
The funding comes from part of the $2 trillion CARES Act legislation. The National Endowment for the Humanities distributed $75 million to various councils nationwide.
The Missouri Humanities Council said 76 organizations in Missouri received a total of $535,400. Of those organizations, several are located in central Missouri.
| Capitol City Cinema | $4,000 |
| Ragtag Film Society | $5,000 |
| Missouri River Relief | $5,000 |
| Audrain County Historical Society | $5,000 |
| Boone County Historical Society/Cultural Center | $8,000 |
| University of Missouri - Missouri Review | $10,000 |
| Friends of Arrow Rock | $12,000 |
Ragtag Film Society in Columbia received $5,000. The organization said the money helped it reopen the cinema.
“We were able to use the funds for utilities, and materials needed to make our cinema safe,” Cinema Director Barbie Banks said. “We installed plexiglass, invested in new cleaning supplies, we purchased gloves and masks for our employees and patrons, and we were able to purchase hand sanitizer with the funds.”
Missouri River Relief got $5,000 from the grant program. It said it has also received money from the Paycheck Protection Program and an advance Economic Injury Disaster Loan.
The organization said that it is mainly using this money to keep its staff employed. The pandemic has also forced the group to rethink how it typically operates.
“We have been impacted by the pandemic in many ways. In the past our organization has specialized in bringing large groups of people together on the Missouri River to accomplish extraordinary things,” Executive Director Steve Schnarr said. “So we have had to shift pretty much everything we do.”
Schnarr said that the organization has had to cancel a number of events.
“This has really disrupted our funding model. The CARES Act funding has allowed us a little breathing space to keep our staff working towards shifting our programming,” he said.
Missouri River Relief is still trying to find ways to accomplish its mission.
“This past week we spent five days on the river working with some of our most experienced volunteers to change our river clean-up model from one-day efforts with 200 volunteers into four days working with about 20 volunteers per day," Schnarr said.
