The Community Foundation is monitoring the local situation closely, and are in contact with many community-leading and community-serving organizations about the most effective ways to support our residents.
In an effort to support our most vulnerable families in their time of need, the Lancaster County Community Foundation and the United Way of Lancaster County are working together to respond. We’ve mobilized a task force of key social service organizations and we’ve developed a plan that will get much needed support and resources effectively and efficiently to Lancaster County families in need through those organizations.
We’ve created a fund that we call Lancaster Cares. The fund is hyper-focused on the most basic needs of Food, Housing, and Rapid Response to Emerging Needs. The Community Foundation has made a lead gift of $250,000 to seed this much needed effort. We invite you to visit and contribute what you can. Together, through trusted local organizations, we can get resources to those in critical need. And, together, we will pull through this crisis and strengthen our community for tomorrow.
4 local community benefit organizations receive funding through Lancaster Cares, supporting a program that provides protective gear to health professionals, a partnership to maintain virtual medicare for vulnerable populations, as well as efforts to mitigate food and economic insecurity.
Nearly 49,000 Lancaster County residents have lost jobs and filed for unemployment benefits since March. People across this community are losing sleep over how they will pay their rent, put food on the table and weather this storm, which changed so much so quickly. But some things remain constant, and one of those things is the extraordinary generosity of Lancaster County residents. In response to challenges brought on by the pandemic, Lancaster County Community Foundation, in partnership with the United Way of Lancaster County, launched the Lancaster Cares COVID 19 Response Fund.
We are proud to announce another $50,000 in investment to 23 local community benefit organizations to meet the unfolding COVID-19 crisis in Lancaster County.
We are fortunate to have extraordinary organizations working to keep our community engaged and informed throughout this epidemic. Check out local resources to stay up to date on developments:
In times like these, it’s important to treat mental health as seriously as physical health. Whether you’re practicing social distancing or required to work in the field, be sure to check in with yourself and your team. This will be a marathon, not a sprint, and we may have a while to go. The Community Foundation team is working hard to check in with each other and share resources for relaxation, de-stress, and ways to keep developing. Here are some of the things we’re doing:
We are fully remote as an organization currently but we are responding to emails. If you have questions or concerns, please feel free to reach out to a member of our team!
