Amazon held a Community Fund Award Celebration ceremony on Oct. 29 in Hermann to recognize numerous local organizations who received grants through the Montgomery County Amazon Community Fund.

Out of the 16 businesses that were awarded, nine of them were from Montgomery County. They were the Bellflower Youth Club, Montgomery City Lions Club, Montgomery County 4-H Council, Montgomery County Health Department, Montgomery County Senior Center, New Florence Lions Club, Wellsville Community Athletic League, Wellsville-Middletown R-I School District and Youth In Need Head Start program in Montgomery City.

The 90-minute event was held at Rotunda at Washington Street. Afrika Alsup, Communications Engagement Manager at Amazon, said all of the recipients have projects that are focused on food access, STEAM education, workforce development, digital skills and veterans support.

“In this room are people who feed their neighbors, care for our veterans, teach our children, keep our seniors connected and make sure that the families in our small town have the same opportunity as everyone else,” Alsup said.

Amazon, which is building a data center outside of New Florence, awarded a total of $150,000 of grants to the 16 recipients. Grants ranged from $5,000 to $12,000.

“The dollars aren’t the story,” Alsup said. “The story is what you’ll do with the money, like the Fourth of July celebrations, the diapers handed to new parents, the ballparks that will host games for years to come and the veterans who no longer need rides to town for basic necessities.”

Presiding Commissioner Ryan Poston said receiving the Amazon Montgomery County Community fund is a great opportunity for any business.

“We live in small communities, so when we try to do fundraisers and other things, there are only so many dollars to go around and we preach this forever,” Poston said. “Guess what? We got a lot of dollars to go around now, which would actually benefit everything and everybody, so welcome and thank you for what you’re doing.”

The Montgomery City Lions Club, Montgomery County 4-H Council, Montgomery County Health Department, Montgomery County Senior Center, New lorence Lions Club, Wellsville Community Athletic League, the W-M R-I School District and Youth In Need each received $10,000, while the Bellflower Youth Club received $5,000.

The Bellflower Youth Club is a 13-member organization that strives to help put on some engaging events for the Bellflower community to enjoy. Since the summer, the club has hosted events such as the fourth of July Parade, a car show and a movie night.

Secretary Alyssa Oden said her club is thrilled about receiving the grant.

“It means a lot because we’re starting over from scratch,” she said. “Being able to have this added donation so we can work on the concession stand and keep bringing more events to the youth in Bellflower is going to do a huge amount for us.”

The New Florence Lions Club will use its money to help make improvements to the community building.

“It’s going to mean a lot to us because we are going to renovate what needs to be done to bring it up to standards for everyone to be able to use it,” Secretary Chandra Van Dillen said. “It is also an emergency management facility and a cooling center, so that helps the community in general to have these available.”

With the $10,000 Amazon fund, the Montgomery City Lions Club now has a total of $20,000 to help with improvements of its building. The organization received $10,000 from Jonesburg State Bank during the summer.

“This is going to make a big difference in our building,” said Tammy Teeter, one of the Lions’ Club members. “We rent out the building for $65 for six hours or less and $135 the whole day. I know it’s a small building and it’s nothing fancy, but there’s no place you can rent that reasonably. We try to have it for the people to use in the community.”

Teeter said businesses such as St. John’s White Chapel Baptist Church and Schlanker Funeral Home use the building. Recently, the church held a dinner there following its 144th anniversary event.

“We try to keep the building up and going where people can use it and not cost an arm and leg,” Teeter said. “We don’t make a lot (of money) on the building. We try to at least cover utilities and stuff.”

Other local businesses that received Amazon grants were the District 9 Department of Missouri Veterans of Foreign Wars ($10,000), Hermann Area Chamber of Commerce ($5,000), Hermann Community Food Pantry ($12,000), Neighborhood Forest ($10,000), Per Scholas, Inc. ($10,000), Revival KC, Inc. ($10,000) and Street Patrol ($8,000).

County resident Kayla Gastler, who is the VFW Post 4436 Quartermaster, was one of the representatives of the District 9 Department of Missouri Veterans of Foreign Wars at the ceremony. The organization will send its money to the VFW National Home in Eaton Rapids, Mich.