It’s official! In a fast-paced campaign kicked off just last December, made public mid-January and judged by the legislature in late March, the Greenbelt Cooperative Supermarket and Pharmacy Rays on the Roof campaign won an Independent Bond Bill from the state legislature.
With help from the Prince George’s County delegation, Delegate Tawanna Gaines and Senator Paul Pinski who sponsored the bill to the legislature and Delegates Anne Healey and Alonzo Washington who supported it, the bill received legislative approval, which will result in giving the campaign the $350,000 it requested toward its approximately $750,000 project. It’s a win against the odds: requests for bond bills received by legislators often total $90M for available funds of $14M to $16M. Funds will be available around June and the project must be coordinated with the state.
Support from the community was a pivotal factor. Greenbelt’s enthusiasm for the project was evident to the legislators. Dorrie Bates, in her presentation to the legislature on March 9, was able to tell them that contributions were very much on track. Since that time Co-op has passed its intermediate fundraising target of $400,000 in pledges toward the matching funds required for the bond bill, though Co-op will continue to raise funds to provide a contingency reserve.
Read more of this story in the April 4 News Review.