News Photo by Steve Schulwitz Christian Mullaney, left, selects members of the Alpena Boys and Girls Club to be on teams for a kickball game on Thursday. The club received a grant from the Alpena County Youth and Recreation Committee for programs that promote health and fitness.

ALPENA — On Wednesday night, the Alpena County Youth and Recreation Committee approved 32 grant requests totaling $555,910 for projects countywide.

The funding comes from a countywide property tax that costs the owner of a home valued at $100,000 about $25 a year.

Some of the bigger-ticket grants approved Wednesday include $36,500 for Americans with Disabilities Act-compliant playground equipment at all six Alpena Public Schools elementary schools and $41,200 for Alpena 4-H activities. The committee granted $73,400 toward the proposed Thunder Bay River Center to help cover the cost of matches needed for grants to be used toward the project.

The Alpena Plaza Pool, which receives money each year, received $90,000.

Other projects to receive grants include a $40,000 allocation to the Hubbard Lake Lions Foundation for tennis and pickleball court upgrades and $22,000 for new equipment for the Alpena Jets football team.

Committee Chairman Toney Suszek said the committee designated an additional $30,000 in contingency funds to use for mini grants for less than $7,500 to be applied for during 2024.

Suzek said the committee decided to hold back the $30,000 to make small grants available to groups and organizations who may need a little financial help after the deadline for applying for 2024 funding and before next year’s allocation deadline.

“We thought maybe there could be some exciting things that come up and groups wouldn’t have to wait a year for us to act,” he said. “It could be for a festival or something for the schools and it just allows people to apply for a small grant who may have missed the deadline or learned about something new.”