Chest fund distribution delayed

By Melinda L. Lucas

Members of the Albany Chest’s board of directors originally planned to meet Wednesday, Jan. 12 to distribute funds collected during the 2021 campaign, but with the number of positive COVID cases rising rapidly, the decision was made on Monday to postpone.

According to board president Jana Kitchens, the directors are tentatively scheduled to meet at the Feed Store on Jan. 26.

“We will reassess a few days before the meeting to see how things stand, but hopefully there will be an improvement in the numbers that will allow us to meet in person,” said Kitchens. “If not, we might make plans to meet remotely so we can go ahead and get funding out to our recipients.”

Although requests from the 26 applicants is around $56,000, the 2021 goal was set at a more reasonable $46,000.

As of press time last week, collections had gone over the goal with a tally of $48,401, and Chest treasurer Paige Adair reported on Tuesday that another $2,350 had come in over the past few days for a total of $50,751.

“We expect to trim some of the requests, but to be able to give away this much money is amazing,” said Kitchens. “We are incredibly grateful to everyone who contributed.” 

The Jan. 26 meeting is set to begin at 5:15 p.m., and directors hope to distribute checks to the organizations during the first week of February.