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By Carey Reeder | Managing Editor

Cawaco Resource Conservation & Development announced on Oct. 23 that three organizations in Thorsby were awarded $31,500 in grants. The grants go towards projects in the Thorsby area.

Cedar Grove Fire Department, the City of Thorsby and Thorsby High School were the three beneficiaries of the grants appropriated to Cawaco RC&D by the Alabama State Legislature and the Chilton County legislative delegation to help empower local organizations and strengthen local communities.

Those in attendance for the presentation of the grants in Thorsby included 14th District Sen. April Weaver, 42nd District Rep. Van Smith, Thorsby Mayor Robert Hight and Chilton County Schools Superintendent Corey Clements.

Weaver was happy to see all of the organizations who applied for the grants, and hopes she will continue to work to bring dollars home to her district.

“This is one of my favorite days of the year, and I love to see how the money we appropriate in the legislature goes to worthwhile projects that help our communities so much, and I thank you all for what you do,” said Weaver in a press release from Cawaco RC&D.

Smith said the funds given by Cawaco RC&D benefit communities in many ways.

“These funds help put dollars into the economy,” Smith said in the press release. “When we appropriate money to RC&D we know it will benefit communities by providing much needed funding for services. Services such as public safety, education, agriculture and community development.”

Hight was gracious of the work Weaver and Smith did in providing the funding to Cawaco for the projects around his city.

“We appreciate the work our legislators do, and we were glad to be able to help local farmers promote their local business through the Chilton County agriculture trail with the $10,000 grant this year,” Hight said in the press release.

Thorsby High School used its $14,000 grant to make vast improvements to its library, and Clements commented that without the Cawaco grant, it would not have been possible.

“We are greatly appreciative, we were able to completely renovate the library, which is now called our 21st Century Library,” said Clements in the press release. “We remodeled almost everything we could in the library. It was greatly needed for one of our fastest growing schools in the school system.”

Cedar Grove Fire Department used its $7,500 grant to purchase a manikin to help simulate life-threatening events to assist in preparation for real-time events.

“This really does help us tremendously,” CGFD assistant fire chief Wade Logan said in the press release. “We’ve been able to train firefighters to be prepared for a real-world scenarios with surrounding departments.”

Cawaco RC&D is one of nine RC&D councils that cover Chilton, Shelby, Blount, Walker and Jefferson counties. The mission of the council “is to improve the quality of life of residents by the reasonable and responsible protection of the natural and human resources of Central Alabama.”

The State of Alabama has funded the Cawaco RC&D for over 25 years.