The Jefferson Rotary Club continued to give grant funds to local organizations at their regular business meeting this past Monday.

Genesis Development accepted a $5,000 donation to put towards purchasing a new baler for their recycling program. The money will be used as a downpayment to replace the current 24-year-old machine. Rotary President Carol Durbin said they will continue to give out grants until the middle of this month. Grant Committee Chair Joel Williams said they had about $50,000 in grants to give away this year.

Also during the meeting, Rotarians learned about an Ames-based business that deals with crickets. Shelby Smith owns Gym-N-Eat Crickets. She produces 500,000 crickets as either dry roasted or in protein bars that she sells at farmers markets or in direct sales. She currently expanded her space to grow and store crickets to produce even more. She added that only people in the United States, Canada and Western Europe don’t have crickets as part of their regular diet.