By Tara Fischer

Staff Writer

Seven groups throughout Maryland’s lower shore, including Beach to Bay Heritage Area, received thousands of dollars in funding via the Maryland Humanities’ Marilyn Hatza Memorial SHINE (Strengthening the Humanities Investment in Nonprofits for Equity) grant program.

According to a press release issued by Beach to Bay Heritage Area Executive Director Lisa Challenger, the Maryland Humanities, a nonprofit dedicated to learning and promoting dialogue about Marylander heritage, culture, and future, awarded $70,000 to Maryland’s lower shore, distributed evenly between seven groups. Each organization received $10,000.

The Marilyn Hatza Memorial SHINE program provided the general operating support grants to 90 nonprofits throughout Maryland. The funds are to be used for humanities programming.

“The humanities explore the human experience and help us think about who we are — our ideas, histories, and values — and how we relate to each other. It is through the humanities that we improve our understanding of one another, and this, we believe, will help build healthy and equitable communities,” the Maryland Humanities website says.

The groups on the lower shore to receive the award include the Berlin Heritage Foundation, Buffalo Soldier Living History Site, Epoch Dream Center, Furnace Town, Lower Shore Cemetery Preservation Organization, Westside Historical Society, and Beach to Bay Heritage Area.

Through this award’s funding, the Beach to Bay Heritage Area plans to continue its mission of safeguarding the lower shore’s history. Last year, for instance, Beach to Bay Heritage Area received a grant to develop African American products, including 12 interpretive signs across Somerset, Wicomico, and Worcester counties.

Of those markings, Worcester County Public Works assisted in the installation at the Germantown School Community Heritage Center and the New Bethel United Methodist Church in Berlin. The postings give a concise history of the importance of the sites. The structure located at the Germantown School details the facility’s past, as the structure was built at a time during segregation.

The school closed in the 1950s and was later converted into a truck and storage garage. In the late 1990s, community members raised money to restore the structure, intending to preserve its history. Renovation was completed in 2013, and now, the building serves as a museum and community gathering place.

According to the Marilyn Hatza Memorial SHINE grant program guidelines, the award prioritizes organizations that center diversity, equity, and inclusion, serve audiences underserved by the humanities, like veterans, rural populations, BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and People of Color), and low-income individuals, like Beach to Bay Heritage Area.

“The Beach to Bay Heritage Area is one of 13 Maryland-certified heritage areas whose mission is to promote, preserve, and protect the cultural heritage, historical linkages, and natural assets of the lower eastern shore,” Challenger said.