Over 600 individuals receive $500 in COVID-19 relief, but demand outweighs resources
April 1st, 2020
Originally seeded by a $250,000 contribution from the Midland Area Community Foundation, individual assistance provided through the COVID-19 Response Fund has financially assisted over 600 Midland County residents affected by COVID-19. In addition to the $250,000 contribution, the Midland Area Community Foundation is providing $250,000 in match funds for gifts from individuals or businesses.
The COVID-19 Response Fund was jointly established by Midland Area Community Foundation and the United Way of Midland County to assist with emerging and long-term needs of the community. Individual assistance was an initiative established by Midland Area Community Foundation.
“We have been very fortunate to work with amazing community partners such as Salvation Army and Greater Midland Community Center to facilitate effective application processing and disbursement of funds,” said Sharon Mortensen, President and CEO of the Midland Area Community Foundation. “Although over 600 individuals have already been directly assisted by the COVID-19 Relief Fund, we still have over 800 more applications to process and resources to only fulfill roughly 250 more grants.”
Individual assistance has been made possible through the generosity of numerous organizations and community members. Assistance favors individuals whose livelihood has been directly impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic and who do not currently have resources to assist them. MACF originally purchased 500 separate $500 prepaid debit cards, and thanks to community and organizational contributions, have been able to purchase over 350 more. The cards were sold to MACF, graciously without fees by Isabella Bank. Grant requests are processed by Salvation Army. Applications are funneled through the Salvation Army website and distribution takes place three times per week at Greater Midland Community Center.
“We really wanted to provide an opportunity for individuals who do not have access to supplemental resources due to sudden unemployment or hardship,” said Mortensen. “If the community rallies around this undertaking, we will be able to impact more of our neighbors and friends in need.”
“We appreciate the many ways the community is coming forward to help during this pandemic,” said Holly Miller, Executive Director of United Way of Midland County. “We see neighbors giving to neighbors in many ways including volunteering and giving.”
Opportunities to give can be found at midlandfoundation.org/give. A little under half of the matching funds are still available. Use the drop-down menu to select the COVID-19 Response Fund and mention in the notes section that you’d like your contribution allocated to individual assistance through the COVID-19 Response Fund.
The mission of the Midland Area Community Foundation is to provide philanthropic leadership to strengthen our community by fostering collaboration and giving today and in the future.
For further questions, you can contact the Foundation at 989-839-9661 or info@midlandfoundation.org.
