PLACER COUNTY, Calif. — As the customer base at many businesses dwindles, the demand for a lot of non-profits has only increased. With jobs lost and fundraising events forced to cancel, the funding for many non-profits has been put at risk, so the Placer Community Foundation moved fast to find a solution.
The foundation works year-round with donors to help bring grants back out into the community. In mid-March, the foundation set up its all-new COVID-19 Response Fund.
“We started with $50,000 in matching funds from the Community Foundation,” said the foundation’s CEO, Veronica Blake. “Then we just put it out into our networks and people in our community have been extremely generous.”
The first focus for the fund has been getting grants to boost food distribution throughout Placer County, like the Placer Food Bank which gets necessities for food pantries and other organizations.
“We've also provided resources to Seniors First which is an organization that provides Meals on Wheels Program to our shut-in senior population,” Blake said. “We've provided grants to the Auburn Interfaith Food Closet, the Salvation Army, and another group in Forest Hill called Giving Hearts.”
Though those organizations have gotten a boost right now, the Placer Community Foundation says help is still needed from corporations and community members to keep the COVID-19 Response Fund going.
“Fifty-thousand [dollars] is a start,” Blake said, “but we're going to require a lot more resources in order to make sure people in our community are taken care of.”
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