This past Wednesday, the Bock Family Foundation in Perry awarded more than $60,000 in grants to nonprofit organizations, and the biggest beneficiary was Dallas County Conservation.

Conservation Director Mike Wallace accepted two separate grants, which totaled $10,000 and included the largest single donation of the spring cycle. The larger of the two grants was $7,500, which will help pay for phase two of “Let’s Connect.” The connector trail project will bridge the nine-mile gap between the Raccoon River Valley Trail in Perry and the High Trestle Trail in Woodward. Phase two involves paving around one-and-a-half miles of the trail, starting in Woodward and running west, and is expected to be finished later this year. Phase one was completed in 2018, and included a similar stretch of trail east from Perry. The total project costs around $5 million, and with the addition of the Bock grant, the project is about 60% funded.

The second grant Wallace accepted from the Foundation was for $2,500, which will be used to fund the annual Prairie Awakening Celebration, held around Labor Day. The event honors the rich Native American history of central Iowa, and includes an assortment of traditional ceremonies and music. The Bock Foundation gave out a total of 23 grants for this spring cycle, and Conservation was one of three groups to receive funding for more than one project, along with the Perry Area Child Development Center and Perry Middle School.