Three nonprofit organizations that serve residents of Murrieta will see a little more than expected in grant money from the city this year.
An extra $10,000 the Murrieta City Council had not expected came in the form of an allotment from Third District Supervisor Jeff Stone, and was divvied out Tuesday evening. The monies are from a Community Designation Fund each supervisor may use at his or her discretion to help their constituents.
City Council voted 3-0 to award $4,000 to St. Martha's Food Pantry, and $3,000 each to Safe Alternatives For Everyone (S.A.F.E.) and Michelle's Place Breast Cancer Research Center.
In December, after an application process and public hearing, City Council voted to award the largest share of $42,000 in Community Development Block Grants—which come from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development—to St. Martha's Food Pantry.
At the time, the pantry was allotted $20,000, while S.A.F.E., which deals with victims of domestic violence, received $7,000. Michelle's Place, Boys and Girls Clubs of Southwest Riverside County and Assistance League of Temecula Valley received $5,000.
In evaluating how to divvy up the additional funding allotted by Stone, Councilwoman Kelly Bennett made a proposal.
"...I looked at which ones in this economy and this environment today are serving the most critical needs of the five and I identified those as Michelle's Place, for the breast cancer detection for those who don't have insurance to cover it, S.A.F.E. on the violence and abuse prevention and intervention, and the food pantry," Bennett said.
"I also looked at not only what most critical needs were being served out of those five organizations, but who also had the least opportunity for larger fund-raising efforts...those three remained in my thought..."
Councilmen Randon Lane and Alan Long were absent, but Mayor Doug McAllister and Mayor Pro Tem Rick Gibbs voted in favor of Bennett's proposal.
The alternative, based on Council subcommittee recommendations, would have been to allot $4,761 to St. Martha's Food Pantry, $1,191 each to the Boys and Girls Clubs, Michelle's Place and Assistance League of Temecula Valley, and $1,666 to S.A.F.E.
