The Fulton Rotary Club offered a helping hand to the Coalition Against Rape and Domestic Violence Wednesday, which was the first day for Domestic Violence Awareness Month.
In March the Rotary raised $4,200 from a series of mouse races and $3,600 of the money raised was part of a grant donated to CARDV. Rotary District 6080 matched the Fulton Rotary's $3,600 and an overall grant of $7,200 was presented to the group for facility repairs, Rotary member Mary Ann Behon said.
"A lot of community organizations fight and scrape around for grant money to even exist," Dori Shirley, the Rotary's community service chairwoman,
said. "You want these groups to have a little push to make their services and service areas better for the individuals they're helping."
A part of the grant was spent preparing the CARDV facilities for a face-lift by power washing and staining the 300 foot fence, landscaping and installing a gate. The grant is also being used to purchase new playground equipment for outside and furniture items, like desks and chairs inside.
Members of the William Woods University men's basketball team and volunteers from the youth group at the Heartland Church of the Nazarene, as well as other Rotary members joined together to complete the majority of the work planned for CARDV, Shirley said.
"It's great to see the community work together and make sure the youth is being involved and understand that it's important to be involved in the community," Shirley said. "I was wonderfully overwhelmed when the basketball gentlemen showed up."
Administrators at CARDV were not available for comment.