Community support is crucial and a new fund will help those who are busy helping others.
$180,000 will go towards supporting community charities and organizations who provide services to vulnerable people affected by the COVID-19 pandemic in the newly launched Emergency Community Support Fund (ECSF).
The fund is a Government of Canada initiative that has earmarked $350 million for organizations in Canada to combat the effects of COVID-19. $110 million was distributed between 83 United Way chapters across Canada.
The United Way has already supported many different projects in the community and beyond including a grocery delivery service, VON Frozen Favourites meal plan, Soul’s Harbour and Freeman House. The fund will allow that support to continue and will be be particularly beneficial for vulnerable persons in the community, said Michael Graves, Coordinator, United Way of Lunenburg County.
“What we do at United Way is target vulnerable people. Lots of people have been affected by COVID-19 and the pandemic but vulnerable people have been affected at a much higher rate,” he said.
Graves said that they have many donors who contribute and they then take that pool of money and redirect it to organizations that need it.
” We work with organizations and we ask them to come up with project ideas, working together we then consider funding. It’s important to get first hand knowledge from people who know the needs of the community.”
The United Way of Lunenburg County is currently accepting applications for funding on its website.
