This week the Coastal Bend Community Foundation was handing out grants to organizations affected by Hurricane Harvey.
One of the non-profits to get a check was the Rockport Center for the Arts. The Center was able to move into a building on Austin Street after the storm destroyed their original structure at Rockport Harbor.
Art Center Executive Director Luis Puron said the grants from the Coastal Bend Community Foundation are coming at the right time for everyone.
"It's really incredible how the level of generosity that has been poured into Rockport," Puron said. "Not only from Corpus Christi but all around the United States."
Puron's was one of 10 Aransas County charities and nonprofits that were awarded grants totalling $220,000 during a presentation at the Rockport/Fulton Chamber of Commerce Thursday.
"We know that there are a lot of people here who really need the help and the charities," Community Foundation CEO Karen Selim said. "Not only their organizations but their clientele need a lot of help."
Selim said they hope the money lets Coastal Bend charities and nonprofits know they are not forgotten.
For some recipients, the money brought tears.
"Our children are back in the schools, but they still need many supplies, so this money will actually touch the children's lives and it will make a difference," said Cindy Duck, president of the Aransas County Education Foundation.
"We were infested with termites and so one of our rooms is closed, so this will allow us to open that room and be able to tell the history of Aransas County a little bit better," said Vickie Moonmerchant, president of the Friends of the History Center for Aransas County.
For the Art Center and its art education programs, getting back to normal is the most important thing.
"We're going to put that money to work in our mission-oriented programs in the visual arts," Puron said. "Primarily I think our art education programs. Those are the ones that serve the community the best."
Those in charge said they are just beginning to build a new Rockport Center for the Arts right nextdoor to the facility on Austin Street.
Hurricane Harvey Recovery grantees include:
SAN PATRICIO COUNTY
Aransas Pass For Youth: $30,000
Tri-County Christian Service Center, Inc.: $30,000
REFUGIO COUNTY
ARK Advocacy: $25,000.00
Boys & Girls Club of Refugio County: $25,000
Good News, Inc. dba Woodsboro Family Center: $25,000
Good Samaritan Ministries of Refugio County: $25,000
Refugio County Elderly Services: $25,000
ARANSAS COUNTY
Access Counseling: $20,000
ACISD Education Foundation, Inc.: $45,000
Aim Hospice: $25,000
Aransas County Council on Aging: $15,000
First Baptist Church, Rockport: $5,000
Friends of the History Center for Aransas County: $15,000
Odyssey After School Enrichment Program: $35,000
Rockport Center for the Arts: $30,000
Rockport-Fulton Good Samaritans, Inc.: $15,000
Society of St. Vincent de Paul/Sacred Heart Conference Center: $15,000
PORT ARANSAS
Friends of the Port Aransas William R. "BIll" Ellis Memorial Library: $35,000
Port Aransas Art Center: $15,000
Port Aransas Education Foundation (PAEF): $30,000
Port Aransas Preservation and Historical Society: $15,000
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