Community Foundation awards grants during COVID-19

By Jensen, Randy on May 2, 2020.

15 grants totalling $202K awarded to local charities

LETHBRIDGE HERALD

The Community Foundation of Lethbridge and Southwestern Alberta announced on Friday $202,800 in grant funding to 15 charities working on the frontlines of the COVID-19 pandemic.

In March, the foundation established a COVID-19 Response and Recovery Grants Program with a contribution of $375,000 from its unrestricted fund. Due to the generous support the fund received, both locally and nationally, the Community Foundation will announce a second call for funding in early May.

While successful applicants in the first round of funding include charities across the region providing urgent response work in the areas of food, shelter and health care, the dominant request was for the provision of food. Other successful projects include providing online mental health supports, support for seniors and emergency housing for youth-at-risk. For a complete list of grant recipients and a description of their projects, please visit the Grant Recipients link on the Community Foundation website.

Due to the high number of applications received, the Community Foundation was not able to support all requests and encourages groups to collaborate and share resources whenever possible.

Funding decisions were based on urgent needs in four priority areas: food, shelter, health care and families with children. Also considered was the financial support that charities have previously received from other sources in response to COVID-19. Before awarding funds, the foundation researched which charities have already received support from the generous community versus those who have not been as fortunate. The goal was to ensure everyone who needs it receives foundation support for the critical work they are doing.

The foundation is asking anyone who is in a financial position to make a donation, to consider working with the Community Foundation to leverage your gift for matching funds from the Government of Alberta. All donations received by the Community Foundation for COVID-19 response and recovery will go back out to support the community.

Anyone interested in supporting the Community Foundation’s COVID-19 Fund can do so by contacting executive director Charleen Davidson at cdavidson@cflsa.ca. Gifts are eligible for a tax-deductible donation receipt. For more information on the matching donations program, visit http://www.cflsa.ca.

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