TUSTIN : City OKs Grants for 13 Nonprofit Groups

The City Council this week unanimously approved $35,100 in grants that will be disbursed among 13 of the city’s nonprofit organizations during the coming fiscal year.

More than 20 groups with requests totaling more than $157,000 applied for a portion of the annual funding.

After a lengthy council discussion, the Tustin Eastern Little League was added to the list of funding recipients.

It will receive $5,000. Councilmen Thomas R. Saltarelli and Jim Potts waged a joint effort to secure the extra funding.

“I don’t think it is smart for the City Council to turn their backs on a request that will keep kids busy through the summer,” Saltarelli said.

He said the year-round baseball program for players up to age 18 offers a “paramount” service because it gets children involved in sports and possibly keeps them out of trouble.

Potts added that the Tustin Unified School District had provided the league with property on Bryan Avenue and that parents had volunteered hundreds of hours to get the fields in shape.

Mayor Leslie Ann Pontious and Councilman Charles E. Puckett initially opposed the additional funding.

However, both voted for the extra amount after City Manager William A. Huston said the additional $5,000 could be taken from the city’s park development fund.

Other groups receiving funding include the Boys and Girls Club youth programs ($6,850); the Villa Center, Bartlett Meals on Wheels and the Assistance League of Tustin ($2,500 each); the COPES child abuse prevention program and the Orange County Council on Aging ($2,000 each); Foothill High School, the Tustin Schools Foundation and Central Orange County YWCA, ($1,000 each), and the Tustin Area Historical Society ($750). The others are Laurel House ($5,000) and Sheepfold Organization ($3,000).