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EAGLE LAKE – Thanks to a $4,796 grant from the Lower Colorado River Authority, the Eagle Lake Chamber of Commerce will begin work on a kitchen area and renovate the cramped restrooms in a popular community meeting space.
The Community Development Partnership Program grant will pay for improvements to the community hall that is adjacent to the chamber’s business office. Rentals of the space help fund the chamber, but the nonprofit organization also uses the hall for community events, including cookoffs and arts and crafts fairs.
Connie Herman, the chamber’s office manager, said the upgrades to the century-old building include making the hall’s restrooms accessible to people with disabilities and adding water-saving fixtures. The renovations also will include installing a donated sink in an area that will become a kitchen in the future.
“If you were here in the hall for an event and you had a parent in a wheelchair, how are you going to get them to the bathroom?” Herman said. “You can’t right now. These restrooms need severe updating. Eventually, we also want to have a kitchen where people can warm food and do some cooking. That’s the plan.”
The community hall can welcome up to 200 people, and is a popular spot for wedding receptions, quinceañeras, birthday parties, reunions and funeral receptions. The hall also acts as a venue for job fairs, blood drives and other community events. The chamber charges a reasonable rental fee for private events, but nonprofit groups in Eagle Lake can use the space for free for meetings.
The Eagle Lake Chamber of Commerce works to promote economic development and tourism and improve the quality of life in the city and the area. While many chambers can rely on hotel and motel occupancy taxes for funding, the Eagle Lake chamber largely depends on community-oriented fundraisers, including pre-sold holiday meals that chamber members prepare.
“We’re so appreciative of grants like LCRA’s that help make our town have better places for all,” Herman said. “The more events we can put on in the hall, the more we can do for the community. That’s what the chamber is about – bringing more tourists and residents to Eagle Lake and encouraging people to move here and/or bring their businesses here.”
The community grant is one of 44 grants awarded recently through LCRA’s Community Development Partnership Program, which helps volunteer fire departments, local governments, emergency responders and nonprofit organizations fund capital improvement projects in LCRA’s wholesale electric, water and transmission service areas. The program is part of LCRA’s effort to give back to the communities it serves.
Applications for the next round of grants will be accepted in July. More information is available at lcra. org/cdpp.
