Wednesday, February 12, 2020 - 16:23 Sundae Horn, Press Release

Ocracoke Library is one of the buildings that will benefit from the Golden LEAF grant to Hyde County Schools. The nail in the pole shows the height of the flood (7 feet above sea level). Once elevated, the library will be 8' above sea level.

Ocracoke receives some shiny new grants from Golden LEAF Foundation.

The Golden LEAF Foundationapproved Disaster Recovery grants to North Carolina areas affected by recent hurricanes.

Hyde County, Hyde County Schools, and the Ocracoke Foundation were the lucky recipients of the golden coinage worth $2,080,400. Here's how it breaks down:

$500,000 to Hyde County to construct a new EMS station on Ocracoke. The existing station was flooded by Hurricane Dorian.
$125,000 to Hyde County to replace the trams used to support the passenger ferry. The trams were destroyed by floodwater on Ocracoke during Hurricane Dorian.
$900,000 to the Hyde County Schools to support the repair and elevation of several buildings at the Ocracoke School campus. The school was flooded by Hurricane Dorian.
$278,000 to the Ocracoke Foundation (Hyde County) to support the replacement of the main dock in the Community Square. The dock was destroyed during Hurricane Dorian.
$277,400 to the Ocracoke Foundation (Hyde County) to support repair of the Ocracoke Seafood Company building. The building, maintained by the Ocracoke Foundation, was damaged during Hurricane Dorian.

The Community Store docks were destroyed by Hurricane Dorian.

“Golden LEAF is dedicated to the long-term economic advancement of North Carolina,” said Scott T. Hamilton, Golden LEAF President, Chief Executive Officer. “Our Board and staff work hard to get funding out the door and at work in the communities we serve.”

Over two decades, the Foundation has funded 1,814 projects totaling $890 million.

In addition to Disaster Recovery grants to Ocracoke and Hyde County, the Golden LEAF Foundation also approved grants to Pender County, the Town of Swansboro, Beaufort County, and the Bald Head Island Conservancy at their last meeting.

The Disaster Recovery Grant Program is funded through appropriations by the State of North Carolina to the Golden LEAF Foundation to make grants to governmental entities and 501(c)(3) nonprofits to repair or replace infrastructure and equipment damaged or destroyed by Hurricanes Matthew, Florence, Michael, and Dorian.

Golden LEAF gets its money from Big Tobacco. Who says smoking's bad for you? Well, actually, the tobacco companies hid that useful information and have to pay a lot of money to make it up to us. (The Golden LEAF Foundation is a nonprofit organization established in 1999 to receive a portion of North Carolina’s funding received from the 1998 Master Settlement Agreement with cigarette manufacturers.) Smoking is bad and you should quit. But if you do smoke, at least you can be puff away knowing that some of your hard-earned cigarette money funnels through Big Tobacco back to Ocracoke and other deserving communities.