| Brainerd, Minn. – The Brainerd Lakes Area Community Foundation’s (BLACF’s) 2020 grant round was underway when the COVID-19 pandemic hit. The BLACF Board of Directors quickly suspended the current grant round and allocated all grant funding to the newly established Brainerd Lakes Area Response Fund (BLARF) The Fund is used to make grants for organizations to primarily address needs around daycare for essential workers, mental health support, food insecurity, and emergency financial assistance for individuals and families. To date, the BLARF has made $53,500 in grants to local organizations. The YMCA received $15,000 for a day camp for essential workers which was established the first day that local schools were closed. Due to financial challenges and social isolation, mental health has been a concern, and a $10,000 grant was made to Wellness In The Woods to provide a “warm” peer support line and WRAP (individual recovery) plans for those struggling with mental health challenges. In addition, the Crisis Line and Referral Service received $2,500 for their professionally staffed, 24/7 Life Line. The following grants were made to address food insecurity: $6,000 to the Outreach Program of Brainerd Lakes, formerly Kids Against Hunger for 20,000 meals for local food shelves, YMCA Day Camp families, and Operation Sandwich, $1,000 to LSS for meals for seniors, $1,000 to Cuyuna Range Youth Center for weekend take-home meals for the families of the youth they serve, $1,000 to the Pillager Area Family Center for their food shelf, $1,000 to the Good Samaritan Society-Bethany for assisted living residents who now cannot use communal dining, and $3,500 to Ruby’s Pantry (Home and Away Ministries) to support the May local food disbursement for over 700 families at Journey North Church. Emergency financial assistance grants were made to Advocates Against Domestic Abuse dba HOPE for Crow Wing/ Cass County clients ($1,500). An additional $12,000 in Emergency Financial Assistance grants were made from Linnea’s Helping Hands Fund, established by Linnea and Jim Anderson shortly before Linnea’s passing. Those grants were made to Salvation Army ($5,000), Bridges of Hope ($5,000), and St. Teresa of Calcutta Conference of St. Vincent de Paul for So. Crow Wing County ($2.000). BLACF accepts and reviews requests weekly for qualifying nonprofits, schools and governmental entities for clients that have been impacted by COVID-19 and have projects that fit our grant criteria. Grant dollars are made possible by BLACF, fund partners including, the MN Disaster Relief Fund, Gustafson Family Fund, Diamond Trust Fund, Linnea’s Helping Hands Fund, Hunt Family Fund, John and Becky Allen Charitable Fund, Joshua Fund and the Hannah Charity Fund, Clow Stamping, Bergin Family Fund, and many generous individual contributors. To help support other immediate needs in the community or to request funding visit CommunityGiving.org/COVID-19, and select the BLA Response Fund, or contact [email protected]. The Brainerd Lakes Area Community Foundation (BLACF) attracts and administers charitable funds for the benefit of the local Brainerd area. Since 1998, BLACF has grown to over $12.7 million in assets and awarded over $5.6 million in grants to nonprofits. The BLACF is governed by a local board of directors and is a partner of CommunityGiving, which is a collaborative of many community foundations united under a single framework to create efficiencies that maximize the impact of our donors. Collectively, CommunityGiving administers nearly 850 funds totaling more than $150 million. Learn more at CommunityGiving.org/Brainerd |
BLACF’s Response Fund Meets Immediate Needs of Community Through Grants
May 5, 2020
Posted in News Release