Christmas came early to more than a dozen local non-profit organizations with the Sedona City Council playing the role of Santa Claus.
During its Tuesday, July 9, meeting, council approved $166,500, as recommended by a citizen’s committee, in small grants to 18 applicants.
This is an increase of $5,000 from last year’s amount.
The item took just a few minutes with little discussion by council before approval. In the past, approval of the grant requests has taken up to two hours following debate and modifications to the dollar amounts allocated. Twenty-one grant applications were received totaling $215,898 in requests.
Two applications were determined to be ineligible and one application was withdrawn, leaving 18 applications totaling $184,898 in requests.
The citizen committee was once again headed by Stephanie Giesbrecht and included Bill Cammock, Jennifer Perry, Dean Gain, Christine Siddoway, Ann Kelley and Patty Reski. Giesbrecht and Megan McRae, the city’s management analyst vetted the grant applications for completeness. The committee met several times to evaluate the applications before recommending a dollar amount for each.
Those receiving grant funds include:
- Chamber Music Sedona: $16,000
- Cornucopia Community Advocates: $5,000
- Emerson Theater Collaborative, Inc.: $5,150
- Gardens for Humanity: $3,000
- Parangello Players: $8,600
- PFLAG Sedona/ Verde Valley: $2,000
- Red Rocks Music Festival: $5,500
- Sedona Arts Center: $20,000
- Sedona Arts Festival: $10,000
- Sedona Chamber Ballet Co.: $10,000
- Sedona Charter School: $8,000
- Sedona Historical Society: $4,950
- Sedona International Film Festival & Workshop: $27,000
- Sedona Toys for Tots: $2,500
- Sedona Visual Artists Coalition: $15,000
- The Hummingbird Society: $4,000
- Verde Valley Sinfonietta: $13,000
- Yavapai Big Brothers Big Sisters: $6,800
“I like the fact that we have a mix of community diversity, kid support, arts, and community events,” Councilman Bill Chisholm said. “It felt like a rich, colorful and diverse package.”
Ron Eland can be reached at 282-7795, ext. 122 or by email at reland@larsonnewspapers.com
