Gila River community awards county with grant money

In a time when money is hard to come by for many agencies, grant money can help fund much-needed programs.

On Wednesday, the Pinal County Board of Supervisors learned that the Gila River Indian Community (GRIC) awarded the county with $130,000 in grants. The funds are from tribal gaming revenues that are shared by GRIC with neighboring agencies.

“We were awarded two grants,” Chairman David Snider said. “Pinal County was awarded $100,000 to purchase a portable x-ray unit for the county’s Medical Examiner. Another grant of $30,000 was awarded to the Pinal County Anti-Meth Coalition for support of local efforts to combat meth use. Although the grant for the X-ray unit is a valuable addition to our ability to act locally in the area of medical forensics – the award of funds for our Anti-Meth Coalition is very exciting. The scourge that is meth addition knows no boundaries and respects no economic status or ethnicity and the battle to educate and mitigate is critical to all Pinal County residents and governments.”

Assistant County Manager for Health and Human Services Lisa Garcia said the money for the x-ray unit will help save taxpayer money in the long run.

“This grant money will go a long way in expanding what we can do here in the county,” Garcia said. “For instance, if we have to send a deceased person’s body to Pima County to perform a task such as x-rays, that costs money and time. We will now be able to do more forensic work locally – in the end that saves the county a lot of money. While Pima County’s Medical Examiner continues to do a great job for us in the more technical cases, it is nice to be able to keep cases here in Pinal County. That goes a long way to lower the stress of those dealing with the loss of a loved one.”

The money for the Pinal County Anti-Meth Coalition will be targeted to reduce the use and abuse of meth and other drugs in the county. This is hoped to be accomplished by drug education and increasing awareness of this growing issue throughout Pinal County.

“I, along with the Pinal County Anti-Meth Coalition, am extremely grateful that GRIC recognizes the threat illegal drug use poses to our residents, on and off tribal lands,” said County Attorney James P. Walsh. “A big part of this grant will go to fund community and county organizations. The money will also help to provide for three prescription drug turn-in events throughout Pinal County.”

County Attorney Walsh added that the previous prescription drug turn-in events have been very popular among county residents. Walsh said that turning in old and unused prescription drugs dramatically reduces the chances that they could be taken by children or sold on the street.

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