The Campbell River Community Foundation wants to help you help others.
With the on-going COVID-19 crisis, it’s launched a relief fund to assist local organizations meet the needs of others.
“We have a very large imprint on the community and we have a lot of people who want to try and provide an avenue for people to collectively support those who are in need during this very difficult time,” says current chair Craig Gillis.
The foundation is putting $30,000 from its annual community grant fund towards kicking off the initiative.
Its goal is to help raise a grand total of $100,000 that will then be given out to registered charities and qualified organizations in town whose work helps provide relief for those who have been impacted by the novel coronavirus.
“We’re currently, as a board, reaching out to various organizations in the community to find out what their needs may be in these more difficult times,” Gillis says. “A lot of the organizations that we’ve come to know in Campbell River that support others and make sure that mouths are fed, people are clothed, housed and shelters are provided.”
The Campbell River Food Bank, Grassroots and Kind Hearts are just some of the organizations Gillis says the foundation hopes to help “as quickly as possible.”
“We have a small group of people, basically a task force, that are meeting this Friday. What we’ll do there is build some of the strategy for how to ensure that we’re reaching out to all of the organizations. On an as needs basis, we’re going to try and divert that money to them as quickly as we can.”
He thinks Campbell River is a remarkable community with “a great heart” and believes the foundation will meet its goal.
“Whenever we reach out, people respond. I think we have to, in these times, recognize that together we are much greater than the sum of our individual parts. We can really make a difference. We don’t want people to despair, we don’t want people to feel that there isn’t hope,” Gillis adds.
If you’d like to donate to the fund, visit this website.
