Ebey’s Forever grants announced

The Trust Board of Ebey’s Landing National Historical Reserve and the Friends of Ebey’s announced this week that 11 historic buildings will receive Ebey’s Forever Preservation Grants in 2020.

The grant program is funded entirely through private donations to Friends of Ebey’s, a local nonprofit organization that supports the Reserve.

The grant program is “a powerful reflection of the community” was born out of an idea between the Trust Board and residents, said Julie Dougherty Winger, executive director of the Friends of Ebey’s.

“Not only does the program help care for structures used by local businesses, property owners, and farmers,” she said, “it has also contributed well over $1.2 million into the local economy.

The grant program is community supported heritage preservation and local economic development.

As the world seems to be in constant flux, it’s comforting and humbling to know that the care and consideration the community shows the Reserve is a continuous. This grant program would simply not be possible without donations from local donors including individuals, as well as tribal governments.”

Since its inception, the grant program has funded 99 preservation projects, ranging from painstaking roof replacements on Victorian homes to foundation repair for some of the Reserve’s important working barns.

“Each year we are amazed at the dedication of the owners who apply, and grateful to the community that keeps this wonderful program going,” Kristen Griffin, Trust Board Reserve manager said. “Hopefully, ‘Ebey’s Forever’ means just that.”

Ebey’s Landing National Historical Reserve was established in 1978 to protect a rural community and its significant history. Preservation is accomplished through partnerships, conservation easements, local land use regulation, and the cooperation of landowners.