Herald‘s Extend-a-Hand charity breaks a record as another matching grant is added
Extend-a-Hand has collected $78,100 in about three weeks, setting a record for generosity so welcome during the COVID-19 pandemic.
With donations outpacing the $75,000 match from an anonymous Whatcom County couple, the Whatcom Community Foundation has added a $25,000 match from its Resilience Fund, meaning donations up to $100,000 will be doubled.
“The community response to the first matching opportunity is incredible. We’re hoping that this additional match will tip the fund over $200,000 before year-end. The holiday season is always stressful. What better way to end an extraordinarily challenging year than to give your neighbor a sense of security and a little peace?” Mauri Ingram, foundation president and CEO, wrote to The Bellingham Herald.
The Resilience Fund is the foundation’s evergreen disaster response and recovery fund, Ingram wrote.
Extend-a-Hand donations allow Unity Care NW and the Opportunity Council, which administers the fund, to help Whatcom County families avoid eviction and keep up with medications and care.
The Bellingham Herald has promoted the fund, known before 2006 as Lend-a-Hand, for four decades.
“The funds will support the growing need for shelter for families during the coldest months,” according to Debbie Paton, community services director for the Opportunity Council.
The agency’s housing case management services will use the funds to help “families, individuals, seniors with move-in costs, household items, emergency needs and baby supplies,” Paton wrote.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, the Opportunity Council has seen a heavy increase in the need to support families with emergency motel stays, Sheri Burgler Emerson, associate director of the Opportunity Council, told The Herald in an earlier story. The agency also has seen a very high demand for rent assistance and expects that to continue for months.
And, with nearly 40% of Whatcom County households either living in poverty or among the working poor, too many lack access to affordable medications, according to a Unity Care NW report shared by Tamara Tregoning, development officer at Unity Care in an earlier story in The Herald. The pandemic has only increased the number of people struggling due to job loss, sickness and hardships.
We invite you to extend a helping hand to neighbors in need this holiday season.
Donations are tax-deductible, and donors through Dec. 30 will be recognized in The Herald. You can mail donation checks to Extend-a-Hand, c/o Opportunity Council, P.O. Box 2134, Bellingham, WA 98227.
Donations are also accepted online via credit card or PayPal or by using the form in The Herald’s Sunday, Dec. 20, print edition or by calling Kaitlyn Miller at 360-734-5121, ext. 333.
