Decatur Beer Fest Distributes $52,000 in Grants

The 2012 Decatur Craft Beer Festival provided $52,000 in grants for community groups.

The City of Decatur says that since 1998, the festival has donated more than half a million dollars. Last year it handed out $49,510 in grants.

, is one of the town's biggest festivals. Thousands of people taste beer, nibble food and listen to music on the Decatur Court Square. It's always a sellout.

The city provided this list of this year's grant recipients:

• Decatur’s MLK Service Project – to assist low-income senior homeowners with home maintenance and repair.

• Boys and Girls Clubs of Metro Atlanta – to support Power Hour, a comprehensive education and tutoring program.

• I CARE – to provide transportation services to Decatur senior residents for doctor, hospital, and pharmacy appointments.

• Decatur-area Emergency Assistance Ministry – to computerize the office for ability to do business with other organizations such as Atlanta Community Food Bank.

• Poverty is Real – to coordinate efforts with musicians and businesses to help raise money for local organizations addressing poverty and homelessness.

• Decatur Education Foundation – to support the start of a microfinance program that will make loans to students for entrepreneurial projects.

• Our House – to support the Early Childhood Education program.

• Wylde Center – for a solar pump with water reclamation system to bring water to the garden.

• The Global Village School – to provide transportation to school and related educational and volunteer resources in Decatur.

• On the Same Page – for supplies for each child in the reading program.

• Housing Authority of Decatur – for the STAR after-school program.

• DeKalb History Center – to create an Exhibits Design workshop.

• Literacy Volunteers of Atlanta – to provide instruction to the adults in the Family Literacy Program.

• Ahimsa House – to provide shelter and vet care for pets while their owners stay at family violence shelters.

• Woodlands Garden – to help plant 50 trees in Woodlands Garden.

• Oakhurst Cooperative Preschool – to replace a chain link fence on the property.

• DeKalb Rape Crisis Center – to provide four months of Crisis Line answering service costs.