Writer’s Center, Rescue Squad Look To Town Of Chevy Chase For Funding

Stewart Moss, executive director of The Writer's Center, talks about a model of a renovated and expanded Walsh Street facility Bethesda-Chevy Chase Rescue Squad, at Battery Lane and Old Georgetown Road
Town of Chevy Chase Photos via Brett Hartl/Center for Biological Diversity

A host of Bethesda and Chevy Chase community organizations are looking to a half-square mile town of less than 3,000 people for help funding some major projects.

The Town of Chevy Chase, an incorporated town between Wisconsin and Connecticut Avenues made up almost exclusively of single-family homes, has a roughly $9 million budget surplus that hasn’t gone unnoticed.

On Wednesday, the Town’s Council will consider four requests for donations ranging from $9,000 for new computers at the local elementary school to $100,000 for accessibility upgrades at a Bethesda cultural center.

At the Town Council’s October meeting, each proposal was determined to meet the Town’s contribution eligibility requirements, reserved for one-time, capital expenses that relate in some way to the small community in Chevy Chase:

The Chevy Chase Elementary School PTA is requesting a $9,000 contribution to buy six iMac computers for the school’s 6th grade elective arts programs.

According to the PTA, MCPS has not budgeted for the replacement of the existing Apple computers at the school and the older computers aren’t compatible with the most current photography and video-editing software.

Jennifer Mitchell, a Town resident who made the request, said the computers would be used for classes in photography, filmmaking and music arts for at least four years and would also be used by a team of fifth graders at the school involved in producing news broadcasts.

The Friends of the Capital Crescent Trail is requesting another $25,388 to continue searching for two species of endangered stream critters the group says prove the Purple Line shouldn’t be built on its planned route through Rock Creek Park. The Town, which is officially opposed to the state-designated route for the Purple Line, gave the same group a $15,000 donation earlier this year to start the work.

See this story for more information on the request.

The Bethesda-Chevy Chase Rescue Squad, another group with a recent history at the Town Council, is asking for $132,000 in Town funds to purchase a new ambulance and 30 sets of new firefighting gear.

The Rescue Squad said $60,000 of that donation would be the last fundraising piece in compiling $305,000 for a new ambulance. The Rescue Squad said a $60,000 donation from the Town last year helped buy a new ambulance that has since been put into operation.

At the time, the Rescue Squad had asked for $230,000. The Council, in an at-times contentious hearing, decided $60,000 was more in line with donations the Town has made in the past.

The Rescue Squad does not receive a regular appropriated budget from any government and has refused grants from Montgomery County in the past because of its opposition to the county’s ambulance fee. Last year, the volunteer nonprofit lost a major donor, the Healthcare Initiative Foundation, and was facing a $200,000 operating deficit, according to President Brooke Davies.

Rounding out the requests is The Writer’s Center, the Bethesda literary center, workshop space and black box theater facility that’s eyeing a major renovation of its Walsh Street space.

The Writer’s Center is asking the Town for $100,000 toward a new handicapped ramp

The Writer’s Center has already secured $500,000 in funding, which enabled us to complete renovations to the lower level of the building, including ADA accessible bathrooms, new classrooms with improved lighting and a Writer’s Studio to give aspiring and established writers a quiet place to work. We serve 6,000 individuals each year, most of whom reside in Montgomery County. The costs of making the building fully ADA accessible total $250,000. Our highest priority — which has been mandated by the County — is to rebuild our Walsh Street entrance to include a handicapped ramp. The grant from the Town would cover $100,000 of these costs.

The Writer’s Center is embarking on an estimated $4 million-$4.5 million fundraising quest to make its 4508 Walsh St. facility more accessible, add a second floor and re-make the black box theater that has become home to a handful of local independent theater companies.

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