Non-profit organizations such as fire companies, ambulance associations, and community improvement groups help keep Schuylkill County safe and thriving.

Now, they’ll finally get a share of the $27.4 million in federal pandemic money the county received in 2021 and 2022.

Commissioners on Wednesday agreed to contract with the Northeast Pennsylvania Alliance to administer the “Schuylkill County Non-Profit COVID-19 Response Grant.”

The program, with $500,000 in American Rescue Plan funds, will be open to “tax-exempt organizations under the Internal Revenue code section 501c3 that have been negatively impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.”

“We’ve been working on this for several months,” said Commissioners Chairman Barron L. Hetherington. “I think it’s going to be a great chance for some of our community organizations. They suffered during the pandemic without being able to have their fundraisers.”

Hetherington, along with commissioners Gary J. Hess and George F. Halcovage Jr., approved the measure.

As of January, commissioners had allocated most of the $9,091,108 of the pandemic money.

The expenditures included $149,291 for the 911 tower project, $156,737.33 for cyber security upgrades, $2,550 on a fire alarm system for the Children and Youth Services Agency building, and $250,945 for cyber security for the county’s computer systems.

Another $3,725,006 went for improvements to the 911 system towers and communication systems; $500,000 to the Schuylkill Municipal Authority for water projects in the north central area of the county, and $500,000 for affordable housing, and $128,518 to reimburse medical providers who helped county employees who battled the virus.