(Arnolds Park)– The Okoboji Foundation announced Friday it’s awarded funding to various projects throughout the Iowa Great Lakes in its latest round of grants.
Executive Director Ann Ditsworth says the projects focus on culture, education, environment, history, life-saving and education.
$100,000 was awarded to the Spirit Lake Protective Association to assist in the restoration and renovation of the Mini-Wakan Park shelter house; $25,000 was awarded to the Dickinson County Nature Center for a lighting upgrade in the Nature Center’s renovation project; $10,000 was awarded to Friends of Lakeside Lab to assist in bringing a sculptural exhibit to support education and awareness efforts; $10,000 was awarded to Discovery House to renovate the exterior of their facility on Hill Avenue in Spirit Lake; $7,500 was awarded to the Okoboji Summer Theatre to assist in their “Let There Be Light” lighting upgrade project; and $1,600 was awarded to the Dickinson Soil and Water Conservation Foundation to purchase storm water monitoring equipment for a study of lakes, rivers and streams in Dickinson county.
Since it was founded in 1989, Ditsworth says the foundation has grown its endowment to 3.5 million dollars. She says their goal now is to increase that even more.
