Renaissance blooms despite hard times

Community beautification program grants $103,575 in ninth year

By FRITZ MAYER

FERNDALE, NY — There was no talk of recession and gloom at the CVI building in Ferndale when the grants for 2009 were handed out. Instead, volunteers talked about the dozens of beautification projects that will unfold throughout Sullivan County this spring and summer.

The auditorium was filled on April 16, as a total of 67 grants, worth $103,575, were awarded, with more announcements to come over the next several weeks.

The grant programs were changed slightly this year to include $75 maintenance grants, which went to 10 projects where volunteers have been very active in the past, but that might have wanted something of a break this year. Part of the motivation for this was a belief that the recession would cut into funds available for the projects from other sources, and the maintenance category would allow groups to coast or take it easy for the year.

However, the volunteers in the various groups are optimistic about the fundraising possibilities for their projects. Glenn Pontier, the project director for Sullivan Renaissance, said that almost all of the groups that receive grants do so expecting to leverage that money with even more donations from other sources. According to the applications they’ve received this year, many of the groups have set higher fundraising goals than in the past.

Also, the prizes have been tweaked slightly to take advantage of Sullivan County’s celebration of its 200th anniversary. Sandra Gerry, the chair of the Sullivan Renaissance Steering Committee, said she was looking forward to an especially colorful “showing of flowers” this year. A special emphasis on flowers has boosted the flower award to $2,000, and the project with the best overall showing of flowers will receive $3,000.

There are four C category projects this year; these are the most ambitious and are undertaken over a period of several years. They received $5,000 grants, and will receive an additional $5,000 in August.

These include one in Jeffersonville, which is being pursued by the Jeffersonville Chamber of Commerce, Jeffersonville JEMS and the public radio station WJFF. The project will include downtown beautification efforts, as well as improvements to the new building acquired by the radio station.

In Fallsburg, the Woodbourne Action Committee will work on park enhancement, parking facilities in the park and stabilization of a bank on the Neversink River.

In Roscoe, the Roscoe-Rockland Chamber of Commerce will spruce up a vacant lot, maintain plantings and create a trail on an access lot on Willowemoc Creek.

The Wurtsboro Renaissance group will work on creating a picnic grove and on improvements to the linear park along the D&H Canal.

For the second year, $10,000 community enhancement grants were awarded for special projects for groups that have completed C category projects and are taking the next step.

One was awarded to the Bethel Local Development Corporation, which is focusing on making its farmers market self-sustaining, and funding a marketing study to attract businesses to the new storefronts in Kauneonga Lake.

The other enhancement grant went to a group in Swan Lake that created the park and is working on revitalizing a historic cemetery in the hamlet.