United Way & Community Foundation Announce First Grants from COVID-19 Fund
Staff Report From Middle Georgia CEO
Wednesday, April 15th, 2020
On March 23rd the Community Foundation of Central Georgia (CFCG) and United Way of Central Georgia (UWCG) announced the Central Georgia COVID-19 Response & Recovery Fund to provide funding to nonprofit organizations supporting people affected by the pandemic.
Today, our organizations announce the Fund’s second round of grants totaling $190,000 to 14 organizations to assist in their emergency responses. These grants follow last week’s grants of $21,000 to the Middle Georgia Community Food Bank to add additional part time staff to address their loss of volunteers and increased demand for food, and $10,000 for hand sanitizer for organizations to distribute to the homeless and other at-risk people.
The grant recipients, and grant amounts, are:
|
Agency/ organization |
Grant |
Objective |
|
Middle Georgia Community Food Bank |
$9,000 |
Support for increased demand for food, and increased distribution costs due to closing of multiple food pantries. |
|
Salvation Army Bibb County |
$25,000 |
Support increased demand, 1,700 additional weekly meals for 122 people sheltered in place and 24/7 supervision, plus 100 additional dinners for take-out to people not in shelter. |
|
NewTown Macon |
$25,000 |
Provide group and one-on-one training to ensure nonprofits and small businesses can access Federal benefit programs and provide organizational planning support to help organizations through the recovery phase. This grant will support nonprofits and small businesses throughout Central Georgia. |
|
Crisis Line and Safe House |
$15,000 |
Shelters cannot admit new residents due to the virus, and with domestic violence on the rise, new residents must be housed in hotel rooms. |
|
Daybreak |
$15,000 |
Fund additional feeding demands. |
|
Loaves & Fishes |
$15,000 |
Fund additional feeding demands. |
|
Meals on Wheels Bibb County |
$15,000 |
Fund additional feeding demands. |
|
Salvation Army Houston County |
$10,000 |
Help with additional demands for Food and Shelter. |
|
Salvation Army Baldwin County |
$10,000 |
Help with additional demands for Food and Shelter. |
|
Mentors Project |
$10,000 |
Help with growth in feeding program. |
|
Family Advancement Ministries |
$10,000 |
Increased demand for utilities, food and housing assistance. |
|
Family Counseling Center |
$10,000 |
Assist in startup of tele-counseling service and Increased demand for counseling. |
|
Jay’s Hope |
$10,000 |
Increased need for helping families affected by cancer while doing so to avoid exposing immune-compromised patients. |
|
United in Pink |
$10,000 |
Increased need for helping families affected by cancer while doing so to avoid exposing immune-compromised patients. |
|
Food Insecurity initiative |
$1,000 |
Rent box trucks to transport food from Food Bank to local church-sponsored mobile pantries. |
These grants are part of an ongoing process with the dollar amounts approved by the Central Georgia COVID-19 Response and Recovery Fund committee. To identify the immediate and critical needs to support those most vulnerable, Community Foundation and United Way staff are hosting bi-weekly calls focused in eight key sectors with nonprofit leaders across Central Georgia.
The fund began with commitments of $675,000 thanks in large part to a grant of $500,000 from The Peyton Anderson Foundation. In addition, CFCG, UWCG and The Griffith Foundation each contributed $50,000, and an anonymous donor contributed $25,000 to seed the fund. Since that time, generous grants have been made by the following:
$725,000 from the Knight Foundation
$30,000 from the Wilbur and Hilda Glenn Family Foundation
$15,000 from the Betty and Davis Fitzgerald Foundation
$41,000 from generous fundholders at the Community Foundation of Central Georgia
$11,000 from reallocations to the fund from company sponsors of United Way’s cancelled Annual Awards Luncheon
$16,000 from online individual contributions
