The Washington County Riverboat Foundation held an awards celebration Wednesday for three grant cycles that occurred in the past year, coinciding with the birthday of someone who was involved with the foundation at its beginning.

Grant awardees were invited to a reception at the Riverside Casino and Golf Resort, for which the foundation is the game license holder. Foundation President Shawn Ellingson presented the organizations that received grants from the COVID-19 relief grant cycle from 2020, the small grant cycle last spring, and the fall grant cycle that was announced in October. The Friends of Lake Darling group were invited mysteriously though, as the foundation announced Wednesday the award of a $25,000 surprise grant in memory of Jim Logan, the former executive director for the foundation who passed away in October.

The foundation chose the friends’ group, as Logan’s family designated all memorial donations on Jim’s behalf to go to the organization that he greatly supported. Friends Board Vice President Faye Vittetoe was privileged to at one time serve as a Riverboat Foundation board member under the tutelage of Logan, “It’s absolutely astounding, we know that Jim Logan was an avid supporter of outdoor walking projects and of Lake Darling but also of all the community in Washington County and surrounding areas and he understood the money is coming where money is available for everyone to enjoy.”

Logan’s wife Ann, daughter Lisa Vittetoe and son-in-law Darrin and grandchildren Taylor and Logan accepted the grant with the Friends group, and Lisa shares her thoughts on this memorial, “It’s absolutely amazing that they would recognize him and do this for our family. Our community has been nothing less than so supportive of us in this time that we just owe the world to our county and our town and never been more proud to be from Washington County.”

The Logan family and the Friends of Lake Darling will collaborate on how to spend the funds to further improve the state park for visitors in honor of Jim, with permission from the Iowa Department of Natural Resources.