Local charities have until Friday to apply for emergency support from Alberta gov’t

By Jensen, Randy on April 2, 2020.

Acting co-ordinator Pamela Beebe will be looking to help local charities and non-profit organizations apply for the province's COVID-19 emergency social services relief funding. Herald photo by Ian Martens @IMartensHerald

Tim Kalinowski

Lethbridge Herald

tkalinowski@lethbridgeherald.com

The City of Lethbridge is giving local charities and non-profit organizations until Friday to submit their requests for emergency support from the Alberta government.

The province has announced it has set up a $30-million COVID-19 relief fund to help organizations and charities dealing with vulnerable individuals and families in communities in this difficult time.

“I have been put in charge of accepting all of the applications for the $30-million emergency social services COVID funding,” explained Pamela Beebe, acting as co-ordinator for the application process with the City of Lethbridge. “We have been working with the organizations across Lethbridge in order for them to submit these applications. We want a really fast turnaround. We want them by Friday at the end of day.”

Beebe is encouraging any organizations wanting to put in an application to work collaboratively with other service providers who work in the same area of social support as part of a “pod.” An example of one pod might be all the organizations working to provide food bank and food security services, Beebe said.

“We have been encouraging organizations to submit an application together,” she confirmed. “However, if they choose not to for various reasons, we are still accepting those applications. We are trying to encourage people to submit an application which gives them the strongest possibility of being accepted. So anything that’s collaborative, I think, is a stronger application.”

Beebe said all applications will be reviewed by Friday evening or Monday morning at the latest, and then quickly sent off for the provincial government’s consideration and decision.

“They have told us it is urgent to submit as soon as possible because they want the funds to start rolling out as soon as possible,” she explained.

For more information email Pamelia Beebe at pamela.beebe@lethbridge.ca.

Follow @TimKalHerald on Twitter

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