On behalf of the Millstone Kitchen Food Program, Montgomery County is among six localities to receive Community Development Block Grants recently.
Virginia Governor Ralph Northam made the announcement of the grants, totaling more than $38 million.
The funding will support projects that rehabilitate housing, improve water and sewer infrastructure, and facilitate COVID-19 recovery and response efforts, benefitting more than 1,400 low- to moderate-income Virginians throughout the six communities.
“Supporting housing, infrastructure, and other immediate needs of our rural communities is more important now than it has ever been,” said the governor. “This funding supports projects that will enable these six localities to continue delivering essential services to Virginians during the pandemic and help build a stronger future for our Commonwealth.”
Millstone Kitchen’s portion of the grants totaled $135,433.
The federally funded CDBG program has been administered by the Virginia Department of Housing and Community Development since 1982 and annually receives approximately $18.5 million to distribute to small cities, counties, and towns. Most CDBG grants are awarded through a competitive process with a goal of benefiting low- and moderate-income households, improving housing and infrastructure, and addressing an urgent community need. In 2020, the CDBG program distributed more than $31.1 million across Virginia.
Montgomery County will receive funding to continue operations of the Millstone Kitchen Food Program through June 2021. The county, in partnership with the local community drive nonprofit Live Work Eat Gather, has been utilizing the Millstone Kitchen to bolster and expand meal delivery services in the community. The Millstone Kitchen is a commercial shared-use kitchen that is a part of the Old School at Prices Fork.
The funding will provide a managing director for this operation, reliable contract work for caterers, and the delivery of meals to vulnerable populations in the area. This program has organized local caterers operating out of the Millstone Kitchen to prepare and deliver at least 600 meals per week, serving approximately 10,000 meals since July 2020. The new funding will provide approximately 10,000 additional meals through June 2021.
