COVID-19 Emergency Response Fund Meets Needs Across CSRA
Print This Post
(Source: WRDW)
AUGUSTA, GA. (WRDW/WAGT) – As coronavirus cases continue to grow, the need for help and support is also growing across the CSRA.
The Community Foundation and United Way of the CSRA are doing everything they can to ease the burden.
Over $250,000 has already been sent out to five local nonprofits from the CSRA COVID-19 Emergency Response Fund and the support is still coming in for a hurting community.
At a time with the risk of COVID-19 on everyone’s mind, for some people, their next meal is the only concern.
“People are calling that honestly have never had to call and never needed help before,” Brittany Burnett, the president and CEO of United Way of the CSRA, said.
Burnett and her team are getting up to 40 additional phone calls a day from people asking for help with anything, like utilities or even food.
Organizations like the Salvation Army are filling plates.
“Even over the course of a couple weeks, as needs are changing, people are calling to say my needs look a little different than they did a couple weeks ago,” Burnett said.
Many nonprofit organizations have hopped on board to help support as many people as they can. Golden Harvest Food Bank’s mobile market is feeding families out in Emanuel County, and the Georgia Family Connection Partnership is trying to meet every need in between across rural counties.
“Connecting the partners with the people who need the resources, and the people who need the resources, with the people who have the resources,” said Julie Miller, a regional manager for the Georgia Family Connection Partnership.
They are offering services like paying someone’s rent, or in rural communities even offering internet.
“What we can do is maybe help with a hot spot. What we can do is maybe provide a cell phone,” Miller said.
More than a million dollars in donations from companies and individuals across the CSRA has poured into the COVID-19 Emergency Response Fund.
“It’s going to take all of us pulling together to make this work,” Miller said.
Organizations are pulling together and keeping a pulse on needs in order to ensure the community’s heart keeps beating.
United Way of the CSRA told News 12 they have gotten donations from more than 100 people in the area, as well as big contributions from companies.
If you want to offer or donate, visit the organizations’ websites:
United Way of the CSRA website
The Community Foundation for the CSRA
Watch the video and read the story on wrdw.com.