Last month, the United Way of Clinton County received a $200,000 grant towards the COVID-19 Response Fund which was an initiative put together in partnership with The Community Foundation of Clinton County.
“This is half of the money that we bring in for our campaign,” said United Way of Clinton County Executive Director Anita Stewart. “For me, this is real exciting. The fact that were given this money to be able to help our people in the community is just beyond my dreams. It took awhile to get the grant. But, all the things you had to do to get the grant was well worth it.”
United Way’s campaign goal locally this last year was $450,000.
United Way for Clinton County was one of 20 different United Ways across Indiana to receive a gift from Indiana United Ways funded by the Lilly Endowment, Inc. Indiana United Ways, the state professional association for United Ways in Indiana, made the grants through the United Way COVID-19 Economic Relief Initiative, which was created with support from a $30 million grant from Lilly Endowment, Inc.
The purpose of the United Way COVID-19 Economic Relief Initiative is to disburse funds into Clinton County to help human services agencies on the frontlines provide food, emergency childcare and other critical services.
“Just last week, we were able to grant six awards to Salvation Army, Healthy Communities, Food Finders, The Bridge, The Boys and Girls Club and the YMCA. We have four more grants coming in and they are for any not-for-profit organizations in Clinton County.”
As of June 8, United Way has approved eight COVID-19 grants for a total of $46,668. Those organizations receiving funds were: Salvation Army ($5,000 for food, rent, utilities and medicine), YMCA ($1,000 for childcare needs), Boys and Girls Club ($6,500 for childcare needs), Food Finders ($10,000 for non-perishable food for Clinton County), The Bridge ($2,500 for food for Kirklin kids and seniors this summer), Healthy Communities ($6,500 for mental health), Open Door Clinic ($5,168 for medical needs and prescriptions) and The Learning Network ($10,000 for rent, utilities, medicine and food for immigrants).
To be eligible for the grant your organization must be a 501c3 status. Grant cycle is in three different Tiers. Tier I is for immediate needs regarding food, Community Development, Utility Assistance, Childcare, Mental Health, Housing and Other. Most grants are for $1,000 – $5,000 depending on the need. Tier I is still available for emergency needs relating to COVID-19 situations. If interested, please email [email protected] for guidelines and application.
United Way has partnered with Michael Griffey at Richey Athletics, Cintas, Sew & Service, Barb Gerald and Jackie Yentz to make masks for Clinton County. Richey Athletics cut all of the materials and Cintas, Sew & Service, Barb Gerald and Jackie Yentz have sewed the masks. So far, United Way has provided 1,500 masks for Frito-Lay, 800 for NHK and 100 for Coomer & Sons Sawmill. The United Way office has about 200 masks still available and Lorra Archibald at Healthy Communities has approximately 600 masks. Archibald can be reached at [email protected].
Stewart added if schools are interested in masks for their students when they go back to school this fall to contact her or Archibald. Stewart said all she needs is a number.
United Way has been involved in two other partnerships. One involves working with Center Township and Eric Farley at the Community Schools of Frankfort. They all partnered together to see about helping the waiting list for 4-year-olds to attend school. The end result was board approval from the Community Schools of Frankfort to have 22 kids attend Suncrest for another Pre-K class this fall. To be eligible, children must live in the Blue Ridge or Suncrest school districts to attend.
“School will be free for these 22 kids,” said Stewart.
The other partnership involved Duke Energy, who wanted to help their customers in Kirklin, Michigantown, Mulberry and Rossville during this uncertain times of COVID-19. With the help of Dan Rhodes, United Way helped Duke Energy find the food pantries in those areas and they were provided with $500 each to help with their food insecurities in their areas.
Duke Energy just donated $2,000 for the COVID-19 cause.
United Way and Kaspar Media are also partnering for individuals to help donate. If you would like to contribute to this fund to aid seniors and families, go to www.clintoncountydailynews.com and click on Big Deals.