$695,000 Has Been Provided To More Than 40 Local Organizations Helping Those Who Have Been Disproportionately Affected By The Pandemic
NANAIMO– On March 26th, 15 days after the coronavirus pandemic was declared, the Nanaimo community sprung to action to help those facing challenges in very uncertain times with the creation of the Nanaimo Community Response Fund. Over the last nine months, thousands of donors, local businesses and community partners have come together to help provide relief to the critical needs of our community due to COVID-19, donating a total of $491,250.
The Nanaimo Community Response Fund has been led by our local community foundation, Nanaimo Foundation. The Foundation and its Grants Advisory Committee have worked swiftly to get this funding into the community, where it is needed most. Funding has been disbursed on a rolling basis since the fund’s creation.
Laurie Bienert is executive director of the Nanaimo Foundation
Thanks to the generosity of our community, together with federal funding provided from the Emergency Community Support Fund, between April 1 to December 4, 2020 a total of $695,000 has been provided to more than 40 local organizations serving the needs of those who have been disproportionately affected by the pandemic.
The stories of the people who have come forward to help and the hard work of local organizations and volunteers show the power of a community when it comes together.
Contributions to the Community Response Fund have ranged in size from $3 to $30,000, with one of the oldest donors to the fund, a 90 year old retired nursing assistant, gifting $30. The fund was launched with donations from existing endowment funds held at Nanaimo Foundation, including a $50,000 donation from the Tom Harris Community Foundation Fund, as well as donations from the Johnston Family Fund and the Dreger-Martinez Charity Fund. Several local businesses were quick to donate their support including a $10,000 contribution from Island Savings and a matching donation campaign by Western Stevedoring.
In its first three weeks, Nanaimoites contributed nearly $50,000 to the Community Response Fund. On April 17th, the Fund received a huge boost thanks to CHEK News. CHEK News brought the Island together in support of COVID-19 relief with Rock for Relief: a Living Room Benefit Concert for Vancouver Island. Local artists, including David Foster, Aaron Pritchett, Trevor Gutherie and Nanaimo’s own American Idol contestant Lauren Spencer-Smith, performed from their living rooms. IWCD and Harmac Pacific matched donations to our community and challenged many other local businesses to follow their lead. During Rock for Relief, Islanders contributed $195,000 for urgent needs due to COVID for Nanaimo and North Island.
A week later, Nanaimo artist Andrea Thomas donated 12 original paintings to be auctioned off with all proceeds to be donated to the Community Response Fund. Andrea’s generosity and talent raised $14,400. “During this global pandemic, while everyone is self-isolating, I turned my dining room into an art studio. It started with the heart painting which was inspired by the Hearts in the Window movement,” said Andrea Thomas. “From there, I decided to create a whole series of COVID-19 themed paintings and started producing a painting almost every day.”
On May 1st, the Rotary Club of Nanaimo celebrated its 100th Anniversary of Rotary in Nanaimo. Rotary Club of Nanaimo President Elect Bob Janes ran 100 laps of the 400 metre track at The Rotary Bowl. Rotarians and friends of Rotarians pledged donations to the Community Response Fund in celebration of Rotary in our community and in tribute to Bob Jane’s efforts. Individual Rotarians and a gift from the Club contributed a total of $6,300 to the Community Response Fund.
“This is a very special day for Rotarians in Nanaimo,” said Rotary Club of Nanaimo President Janeane Coutu. “We are sad we won’t be able to get together to celebrate the contribution that Rotary has made here in the Harbour City over the past 100 years, or toast the members who gave so much over the years to help those in need here in Nanaimo and around the world. Then we came up with an idea: what if we held a fundraiser to help those who need support right now?”
On May 19th, Nanaimo Foundation announced an additional $167,310 to support local charities responding to COVID-19 as part of a partnership with Community Foundations of Canada, United Way Centraide Canada and the Canadian Red Cross, funded through the Government of Canada’s $350M Emergency Community Support Fund (ECSF). The Emergency Community Support Fund was initially announced on April 21, 2020 by the Prime Minister of Canada. A second round of ECSF funding was announced in October.
When the Community Response Fund was launched in March, food insecurity was identified as a key priority area. Of the total amount disbursed into the community, $250,000 has been directed to provide food security for our vulnerable community members. Funding has been provided to several different programs including a meal program for school children led by the Nanaimo-Ladysmith Schools Foundation; programs at Nanaimo 7-10 Club and Wisteria Community Association for the homeless, low income and working poor of Nanaimo; the Youth Food Initiative created by Nanaimo Youth Services Association when the pandemic began; and a food hampers program by Tillicum Lelum Aboriginal Society.
These programs have fed thousands of people in our community over the last nine months. For instance, Tillicum Lelum Aboriginal Society has been providing food hampers to families in the Nanaimo community since the beginning of the pandemic. Biweekly, they deliver food supplies to over 250 families, reaching nearly 1000 individuals each time they deliver.
Prior to the pandemic, 22.1 per cent of the children and youth in Nanaimo were living in poverty; source: Nanaimo’s Vital Signs® 2019. Organizations like Nanaimo Youth Services Association (NYSA) were quick to respond to the needs of the youth in our community who were hit hard by sudden income losses caused by the coronavirus.
Trevor, a nineteen-year-old who was left unemployed due to COVID-19, says, “When I was laid off from my job, I didn’t have any money saved. To make rent and still have money for food was hopeless. When I saw that NYSA was going to provide hampers, I answered them immediately, hoping that this could hold me over. The variety of food in the hamper was better than I was used to eating, and because I wasn’t working, I had time to learn how to cook the things in the hamper. Thank you, NYSA!”
NYSA has provided food for up to 159 youth ages 16 to 29 per week.
A second priority area of the Community Response Fund is housing and shelter needs caused by COVID-19 related closures and public health orders.
Early in the pandemic, Samaritan House, the women’s shelter in Nanaimo, had to close some beds due to overcrowding and the COVID-19 health requirements. Funding from the Community Response Fund aided in the move of Samaritan House to the Community Services Building as well as supported their expansion to begin operating as an Emergency Response Centre. The move to the Community Services Building provides more space and means fewer clients will be turned away. In the words of one Samaritan House client, the atmosphere created, and the support given by staff, made her realize that the new “house” had become a home.
Donations to the Community Response Fund have also helped our vulnerable seniors with the challenges they are facing from isolation. The pandemic has caused many negative impacts for our seniors living in facilities and receiving care in the hospital.
Elderly patients at NRGH have experienced incredible isolation due to health measures resulting in restrictions on visitors and the removal of phones from the rooms in some units. Funding from the Community Response Fund to the Nanaimo Brain Injury Society (NBIS) has helped ease the isolation of hospitalized seniors recovering from stroke and brain injury. This support has allowed NBIS to move their hospital peer support program online with the purchase of iPads. The iPads provide vital connections to isolated hospital patients, and enables NBIS to retain valuable volunteers during the pandemic.
A social worker at NRGH shared, “With the iPads NBIS provided, we have been able to facilitate virtual connections between patients and their families. I was able to support patients to connect with loved ones who were living far away. We had a virtual visit on a couple of occasions with a patient whose son lives in Michigan. This patient was able to see his son and his grandchildren who he had not seen in many years. We had another patient who really wanted to see his cat so we did a Zoom call with his family on the northern end of Vancouver Island. He was able to see his wife, child, and most importantly to him, his cat. It has also been helpful for staff to be able to use the iPads to share information with the family during the virtual visits, and it is a way for speech-affected stroke patients to practice their speech skills.”
Donations to the Community Response Fund will continue to assist our vulnerable seniors, youth and families with the ongoing challenges they are facing due to COVID-19.
“Nanaimo, we are awe-inspired in how you have helped your vulnerable neighbours this year,” says Nanaimo Foundation executive director Laurie Bienert. “We are proud, as the local community foundation, to have worked beside you in responding to this crisis.”
The full list of grants provided through the Community Response Fund can be found here: www.nanaimofoundation.com/communityresponsefund