CHICO-The Butte Strong Fund has awarded 10 grants totaling $460,000 to organizations working on community development projects in the Campfire Burn area.
The organizations involved are the North Valley Community Foundation, the Aaron Rogers NorCal Fire Recovery Fund and the Sierra Nevada Butte Strong Fund.
These grants help people start the process of receiving multimillion-dollar grants, said David Little, executive vice president of communications for the North Valley Community Foundation.
“It helps with the much bigger picture for the programs they’re trying to get off the ground,” Little said.
The grants, between $25,000 and $50,000, are designed to augment efforts to help build or rebuild community spaces and gathering places. According to a press release, the grant will promote venues such as Honey Run Covered Bridge, Paradise Performing Arts Center, Paradise Community Center, Conco Pool and Paradise Library.
“The Paradise Community Center is a multi-million dollar project and will help them plan and start the fundraising project,” Little said. “The Performing Arts Center has a building that is aging. Significant work needs to be done on stage lighting and water infiltration.”
Little said everyone on his staff has a favorite project, and his vote is one of many. Near and dear to his heart is the project Honey Run Covered Bridge, which got burnt in the campfire. Little said that his grandparents lived in Butte Creek Canyon and when they were growing up they loved to swim on an inner tube from a steel bridge to a covered bridge. He said the work on the bridge is being done and it will continue for another two to three years.
“It’s nice to be part of community historical projects,” Little said. “We wanted to help where we could.”
Little said that he had gone to see the Honey Run covered bridge and was sad to see it melting and lying in the creek.
“A fire extinguished it,” Little said.
Little said the North Valley Community Foundation continues to help fire survivors.
“We will continue to do a lot of housing and direct assistance for fire survivors and communities developing housing and support for campfire survivors. We are looking for people who fell through the cracks and who have substantial support from insurance Didn’t get it. We’ve always wanted to help such people,” Little said. “Everything is done through donations. We couldn’t do this unless people were donating to these funds to help others.”
In October and November, the Butte Strong Fund accepted applications for community development projects, then approved grants this month. In the guidelines, Butte Strong Fund said the partnership is important and it will give priority to organizations that have multiple sources of funding and those projects have a strong potential for success, according to the press release.
The North Valley Community Foundation has now awarded $47,597,160 to community recovery since the Camp Fire, which occurred on November 8, 2018.
Learn more about the Buttestrong Fund projects that have been approved and how to donate at https://www.nvcf.org/buttestrongfund.
