On April 7, “An anonymous donor contacted Grand Marais Mayor Jay Arrowsmith DeCoux,” said Cook County Grand Marais EDA Director Mary Somnis. “They told him that they are a small 501c3 foundation – not big like McKnight and others. They wanted to do something to help, as quickly as possible, knowing that people were hurting as they waited for federal and state funding to come through. They wanted to do this in a small community where the impact would be felt. They chose Cook County. They wanted to get the funds into the hands of those who needed help, by the end of April.
“Mayor Jay scheduled a conference call with the donor, Jim Boyd and myself. After additional communications, the donor asked me to be the point of contact for this generous gift to the community.”
The first gift was to the Project Backstop Grant program. Grants of up to $2,500 were made available to small businesses that employed six people or fewer.
The money was given to help business owners to help pay employees, rent, utilities, or other expenses necessary to keep a business operating while awaiting state or federal aid during the COVID-19 pandemic.
One of the recipients of a $2,500 grant from Project Backstop exclaimed, “This is so great. It’s going to allow me to have enough money to hire my crew back when the governor opens everything up for business.”
The second gift was to the Cook County Arts Relief fund. Grants of up to $1,200 were made available to pay for personal or any artistic expenses.
When asked what it meant to receive an artist’s grant, Bryan Hansel replied, “With over twenty percent and growing of my annual income wiped out in less than a month due to the pandemic, I was desperate for help. An anonymous donor stepped in to fund two relief programs in Cook County. The first was administered through the Cook County EDA and the recipients were anonymous. The second program, administered via the Arrowhead Regional Arts Council, was the Cook County Arts Relief grant program. I’m appreciative to have received a $1,200 grant to help protect my art and art education business, which brings approximately $250,000 of direct economic impact to the Cook County community.
“My family and I appreciate being selected for this grant. While I don’t speak for all the artists and businesses that received this grant, I feel it’s safe to say thank you from all of us. Through this investment, the anonymous donor gave us an opportunity to save our art-related businesses during a time when the world is crashing down around us.”
Concerning the anonymous Project Backstop recipients referenced by Hansel, Somnis said, “I did not remember to include some language in the Project Backstop grant program guidelines. As a public entity, the Cook County/Grand Marais EDA operates under MN Statute Chapter 13, Government Data Practices. I sincerely apologize for failing to remember that should have been stated in the guidelines. This was brought to my attention when a local person and a freelance journalist requested copies of all the grant applications.”
As far as the anonymous donor, they aren’t through giving to the community, said Somnis.
“In addition to Project Backstop (a grant program for small businesses administered by the EDA) and the Cook County Arts Relief Fund (a grant program for Cook County artists administered by the Arrowhead Regional Arts Council), they are sending financial gifts around Cook County and Grand Portage, to organizations that help people who need safe shelter and to organizations that help people with food security. A small group of us have been working with the donor, helping them make connections, as they desire to help the people of Cook County and Grand Portage in these ways.
“Because they are a small Foundation, they have asked us to work with them in a confidential manner,” added Somnis. “They are only able to do this for Cook County and only one time. This special gift to us is totally outside of what they normally do. They have committed up to $250,000.00 to help the people of Cook County get through these challenging times.”
The name of the donor shall remain anonymous, said Somnis, out of respect and gratitude.
“While everyone will not benefit financially from this gift, we hope that everyone can benefit from sharing these good feelings. These people care about Cook County’s small business, arts, safe shelters and food security. And they stepped right up. An amazing story about how adversity brings out the best of the best,” concluded Somnis.
Leave a Reply