United Way of Northern BC (UWNBC) has disbursed the first round of allocations, approximately $128,000, from the UWNBC COVID-19 Relief Fund to 25 agencies in the region.
The contributions are provided to help our most vulnerable with food supplies and meals, transportation and delivery, personal care, and hygiene items, supports for programs to run considering physical distancing requirements, and resources for supporting the need for isolation.
“We are so honored and grateful to be able to serve the agencies and communities of Northern BC through the amazing generosity of so many donors. The response to the UWNBC COVID-19 Relief Fund has been remarkable. As this first round of allocations shows, it will provide much-needed support to those that, day in and day out, give so much of themselves to provide for our most vulnerable,” says Trista Spencer, Executive Director, UWNBC.
“Our team continues to work to connect resources with the needs across our region, but we truly need to take a moment to celebrate how people and organizations have come together to support each other at this precarious time,” she added.
United Way says they are able to disperse the amount of funding, but the need of the region as it continues to grow and change throughout the crisis can’t be overlooked.
” The total amount of requests we have received to date exceeds the amount of available funding in the UWNBC COVID-19 Relief Fund by almost eight times and is increasing daily. This means that it is not only more critical for gaps in basic needs to be identified to select the services being approved, but far more difficult to determine where to place the funding. This vast imbalance in need/funding available means either a significant reduction in what we can provide an agency from what they requested or having to make the further heartbreaking decision to not fund an organization that still truly needs help,” said Spencer.