The Community Foundation of Marshall County is awarding grants from its Marshall County Disaster Recovery Fund to help those negatively impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.

This is the first round of grant awards from this fund.

The fund was recently established to assist those negatively impacted by the current pandemic. Grants were awarded to Child Abuse Prevention Services and the Marshalltown Area Chamber of Commerce.

“These grant awardees both exemplify the purpose of the Marshall County Disaster Recovery Fund which is to respond to needs that are not being met, local, state and federal programs.” said Community Foundation Executive Director Julie Hitchins. Child Abuse Prevention Services will be using their grant award to continue to assist individuals and families not receiving assistance, who are significantly impacted by COVID-19. Funds will provide to assist individuals with housing assistance, food and utilities.

The grant awarded to the Marshalltown Area Chamber of Commerce will assist small businesses with the post-pandemic additional costs associated with personal protective equipment. Small businesses will be eligible to apply for mini-grants and will be reimbursed for the purchase of items such as masks, gloves and hand sanitizer.

“Many of our businesses are working hard to increase their cleaning and sanitation procedures, while not passing those added costs on to their customers,” said Lynn Olberding, CEO of the Chamber. “We are very excited for this opportunity from the Community Foundation of Marshall County to assist our small businesses.”