By Dan Spalding
News Now Warsaw

WARSAW — C got some unexpected good news on Tuesday when the  Kosciusko County Commissioners approved plans to direct $52,000 in state money to the nonprofit agency.

CCS officials were informed they might receive the money in December and then learned about the county's decision in a call from News Now Warsaw.

Interim executive director Sabrina Phillips was elated.

"Really!" Phillips said with an excited chuckle before calling a representative of the Michiana Area Council of Governments to confirm the details.

The financial assistance comes at a crucial time as the food pantry continues to see record demand that Phillips says has exceeded levels during the pandemic.

One example she pointed out:

In the first three days in January when the food pantry was open, CCS served three hundred families.

On top of that, CCS saw a record number of requests for the pantry in 2024.

The new infusion of money, which will be released by the county, will significantly alleviate pressure on their resources and allow them to increase the frequency of distributions to meet the growing demand, Phillips said.

As it turns out, the money had been allocated to KEDCo back in 2021 as a $245,000  revolving loan that offered zero-interest financing to small businesses struggling with the pandemic.

Much of that money went unused and was eventually returned to the original funding source, the Indiana Office of Community and Rural Affairs.

Michiana Council of Governments, though was able to propose the remaining portion of the original money be given to CCS with approval and oversight from the county.

KEDCO had been responsible for overseeing the revolving loan program.

"They weren't able to get the money dispersed, but not for lack of trying or that anything was wrong," said Olivia Nix, community development planner for MACOG, which helped oversee the distribution of the money for OCRA.

Nix made the presentation to the commissioners who approved the plan unanimously.

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