The Community Foundation of West Georgia COVID-19 Response Fund now has issued grants totaling $151,765 to local nonprofit organizations in Carroll, Haralson and Heard counties.
The 24 nonprofit organizations receiving the grants are serving thousands of local people in need in a variety of ways. Families are staying in housing instead of becoming homeless, thousands of people are receiving hundreds of thousands of pounds of food, patients are receiving medical care, meals are being delivered to the elderly who are confined to their homes, young families are receiving diapers and formula, breast cancer patients are receiving assistance, children who live in homes that put them at risk with no means of communicating with their advocates are receiving prepaid cell phones.
“We hear a lot about heroes today, and the volunteers serving our community through these nonprofit organizations truly are heroes! It’s been stressful, disturbing and rewarding as they listen to the needs and help hundreds of people who are in some very tough situations, some for the first time in their lives. Each situation is met with compassion, empathy and a desire to help, day in and day out,” said Kim Jones, president of the Community Foundation.
Donations to the COVID-19 Response Fund are sought and may be made at the home page of the Community Foundation’s website at cfwg.net, by text-to-give at “GIVEWESTGA” to 44321, or by check mailed to the Foundation at 807 South Park Street, Carrollton, Georgia 30117.
In addition to the grants that have been issued from the COVID-19 Response Fund, the Community Foundation is assisting local nonprofit organizations in communicating with each other as they identify needs and how they can be met and share information about resources such as food sources.
The organizations that have received grants are Bowdon Area United Christian Ministries, Bremen Food and Clothing Bank, Carroll County Emergency Shelter, Carroll Sav-A-Life/Pregnancy Resource Center, Community Christian Council of Haralson County, Grow Haralson, Hands of Creation, Heard County Community Partnership, HEARTS of Cleburne County, Hope for the Journey, Impact International, Impact West Georgia Hope Center, KidsPeace, Mt. Pleasant Baptist Church Manna House, Open Hands, PASS, Rapha Clinic of West Georgia, St. MargaretÂ’s Community Outreach, St. Vincent de Paul, The Blake House, The Salvation Army, THS Shelter, West Georgia Council on Aging, West Georgia Technical College Foundation and Whitesburg Area Christian Ministries.
The Foundation has introduced a brief grant application for local nonprofits to apply for assistance from the COVID-19 Fund in the areas of food, shelter and emergency needs of clients such as utilities. The application is available on the Foundation’s website at cfwg.net.  Applications will be considered on a rolling basis as long as funds are available. The funds must benefit residents of Carroll, Haralson and Heard counties and the nonprofit must be a 501(c)(3) in existence for at least two years.
by Kim Jones, CFWG
