Feed More Executive Chef Antjuan Fisher in the Steve and Sarah Bayard Community Kitchen. The nonprofit hired seven local cooks to prepare meals for distribution with a $90,000 grant from the Central Virginia COVID-19 Response Fund. (Photo courtesy Feed More)
When the Community Foundation and the Emergency Management Alliance of Central Virginia partnered in late 2018 to establish the framework for a regional emergency relief fund, they expected it to lay dormant until the area’s next natural disaster.
“It hadn't raised any money, but we set up the structure of it, anticipating a time when our community might experience some sort of disaster and we would need a mechanism for raising money to provide support in the way that we are now,” says Kim Russell, senior vice president of marketing for the Community Foundation. “The difference is, we were expecting something more traditional, like a flood or a hurricane.”
The onset of the coronavirus pandemic forced the Community Foundation to activate that fund in March, however. Since then, the organization has kicked its fundraising efforts into high gear to support local emergency assistance efforts through the newly named Central Virginia COVID-19 Response Fund. To date, the fund has raised more than $4 million and has awarded $2.5 million in grants to 76 local groups focused in areas including food access, health care, housing, education and child care for essential workers.
“There are hundreds of gifts that have come into this fund at this point, and they range from $10 to $1 million, so I think the point is that we really can do more together,” Russell says. “When you think about the folks that are … giving what they can, they are part of something that's giving meaningful gifts out to the community to respond at a time when we need it the most, and I just think it speaks to the spirit of community and resiliency, and it's a great thing to be a part of.”
The Community Foundation also worked with the United Way of Greater Richmond and Petersburg to drive donations toward the fund, according to James Taylor, UWGRP president and CEO. In April, the local chapter of the United Way contributed $100,000 to match contributions received through its website, and it plans to continue collecting donations for the relief fund at least through the duration of Gov. Ralph Northam’s stay-at-home order, he says.
Funds have assisted organizations such as Feed More, which prepares and distributes approximately 14,000 meals across the region each week through programs including Meals on Wheels. The nonprofit typically relies on a team of volunteers to prepare meals for distribution, Feed More CEO Doug Pick says, but it faced a steep decline in human resources after the pandemic forced volunteers, some of whom are seniors, to stay home.
With a $90,000 grant from the Central Virginia COVID-19 Response Fund, however, Pick says he was able to hire seven cooks from local restaurants Lemaire, Acacia Mid-town, Shagbark, West Coast Provisions, East Coast Provisions and Sunset Grille to prepare meals in its Steve and Sarah Bayard Community Kitchen for two months.
“That was money that we needed right away, and they got it to us right away, and it really did help us give back to our community and our wonderful restaurant industry,” he says.
As localities throughout Virginia slowly begin to ease public health restrictions through the governor’s phased reopening plan, Russell says the Community Foundation is now assessing how future grants could be used to address longer-term recovery from the pandemic’s economic fallout alongside ongoing relief efforts.
“We're not naive to think that there aren’t already economic impacts, but while there are still immediate needs for food supply and health resources, we’re still there, [also] thinking ahead to what might happen in terms of folks getting back to work,” she says, adding that the fund will expand its scope to include groups focused on rental assistance, eviction prevention and job training.
For more information about the Central Virginia COVID-19 Response Fund and to donate, visit togetheroneregion.org.
