Mathews County has been awarded two $30,000 grants by the Virginia Department of Emergency Management for its pending emergency shelter. One grant will help fund emergency shelter safety improvements, while the other will help pay for emergency shelter equipment and supplies such as wiring and switching for a generator and kitchen upgrades.

The two grants will help defray the $100,000 commitment the county made to the Mathews Family YMCA for shelter-related improvements, said Mathews County Administrator Mindy Conner. The county is expected to sign a shelter agreement with the Y this month to provide $100,000 to enhance the organization’s planned new structure at Hudgins so it will be out of the flood plain and be able to withstand hurricane-force winds. The agreement also includes leasing the building as an emergency shelter in perpetuity for an additional $200,000, paid in $20,000 annual installments over the next 10 years. The board decided in February to support the shelter,...