Fourteen buildings in the hardest hit portions of Schoharie County are sharing $183,000 in grants awarded through the Agriculture Community Relief Fund (ACRF)-another piece in the recovery process underway since August 28, 2011.
"This is an important day for Schoharie County," said Economic Development Marketing Coordinator Sarah Blood, in a brief ceremony Friday.
"Important because it's showing the world that we're coming back and we're coming back stronger than ever."
Schoharie and Middleburgh Main Street businesses and building owners receiving the ACRF grants were:
• Bush and Howard Dental.
• Tim Hines (two buildings).
• Palmer and Shaylor Funeral Home.
• The Conglomerate.
• Pat White.
• Apple Food and Grocery.
• Langan Funeral Home.
• The Harva Company.
• J. Lacy Hair Salon.
• Little Italy Schoharie.
• Andon Iksino.
• Dan Ross.
• JMK Enterprises.
Alicia Terry, head of County Planning, pointed out it took eight months to get to Friday's checks; her office estimates there's still roughly $83 million in unmet need remaining. (See related story.)
"We know the checks we're handing out today are a way for businesses to recover from what most of us never want to live through again," she added.
Assemblyman Pete Lopez also spoke to the fact that the grants were a long time in coming, remembering back to Governor Andrew Cuomo's September visit to the Larry Van Aller farm in Middleburgh and his promises of help.
"It's like a football huddle," he said. "Having the funds in place is only half the battle. We need to get them to the people and businesses who need them."
State Senator Jim Seward spoke to the county's "resolution and resiliency," something he said is impossible to put a figure on.
"Additional debt is not possible for so many businesses," he said. "And without recovery in our business districts, we'll be losing so much...Today marks just the beginning."