DALLAS — One Back Mountain organization was able to end its day $15,000 richer, thanks to the help of the community and a newly opened business.
Over two dozen attendees filled the lobby of Fidelity Bank in the Dallas Shopping Center Tuesday, waiting to hear who would take home a coveted IMPACT grant that’s been months in the making.
Fidelity Bank first opened its doors to the Back Mountain in November, later holding a grand opening celebration in January. It then announced plans to offer a no strings attached IMPACT grant for $15,000 to an area organization.
“One of the things we believe in is going into a community and supporting them. We believe in the sustainability of our communities, and we do that in a lot of different ways,” explained bank president and CEO Daniel Santaniello.
Twenty-one groups initially applied for grant consideration. Over the past few months, Fidelity bankers, Back Mountain Chamber members and community leaders were tasked with narrowing those 21 down to five finalists.
From there, it was up to the community to choose the winner.
“Over the last month, we have invited the community in to vote for one of those five projects that they felt was near and dear to their heart, and that would also improve the Back Mountain,” Santaniello said in his opening remarks.
Shortly after, he revealed a poster awarding the grant to the Back Mountain Memorial Library.
Library director Martha Butler and board president Karen Shuster were on-site to accept the award, adding the funds came at the perfect time.
“This is really a very fortunate time for us to have this happen, because we’re in the middle of a renovation project,” Butler said. “We felt this grant could help us with an aspect of that.”
The women said the library is renovating its multipurpose room and funds from the grant will go towards furnishing the space and will include buying items such as tables, chairs, computers, a projector and more.
The project is set to begin this fall.
They thanked those who have continued to support the library, as well as Fidelity for helping the Back Mountain to thrive.
“We’re very grateful. We thought this was a really great idea on the part of the bank to put this out for the community. It was very generous on their part,” Shuster added.
Finalists included Back Mountain Regional Fire and EMS, Back Mountain Memorial Library, Back Mountain Little League, Dallas School District and Lake-Lehman School District.