COOPERSTOWN – Our COVID Fund has now secured $220,000 to address many needs arising out of the pandemic. We issued 25 awards to date and have about $40,000 remaining to distribute.
Next Up is our plan for 2021. Our board has authorized allocation of $200,000 to the 2021 Awards Round. “We need community input on how to focus our investing these funds,” said Harry Levine, foundation board president.
Twenty-five non-profits have received funding so far, beginning with a $5,000 grant on May 5 to Helios Care, the successor to Catskill Area Hospice, for PPE equipment.
“COVID awards used funds to address issues ranging from rewarding first line health professionals with gift cards to buy food from local restaurants to extending working capital grants (not loans) to small businesses to help them get back on their feet after shuttering this spring,” Levine said.
“…Over 300 donors supported this Fund demonstrating the we live in a caring community.”
Harry Levine, Community Foundation of Otsego County president, received a $1,500 check a few minutes ago in Cooperstown from Otsego County Chamber President Barbara Ann Heegan, left, and Kathryn Dailey, the chamber’s director of special events, proceeds from the chamber’s recent annual golf tournament at the Oneonta Country Club. “We couldn’t be more thrilled with the foundation and its programs,” said Heegan. Levine said the money will go into CFOC’s COVID Relief Fund, which recently announced 22 grants to local entities and still has $50,000 – “now, $51,500,” he said – and is considering another round of grants right now. Anyone looking for assistance should contact CFOC at contact@cfotsego.com. (Jim Kevlin/AllOTSEGO.com)
Mina Aramini swam Otsego Lake this morning with her mother, April, kayaking alongside. (Harry Levine photo)
COOPERSTOWN – A five minutes past noon today, 20 friends and relatives helped Mina Aramini up onto the village docks after she swam the entire 9-mile length of Otsego Lake.
Mina, 14, a Cherry Valley-Springfield High School student, completed her swim in 4 hours and 39 minutes with her mother April paddling alongside in her kayak.
Mina dedicated her accomplishment to the Community Foundation of Otsego County. She is leaving open her GoFundMe page for any more contributions, but as of the time of her finish, she had raised $2,190 for the foundation.
According to Mina, “The water conditions were perfect. For the last two miles, I was completely focused on getting to the finish.”
ONEONTA – Just two weeks after going public, the Community Foundation for Otsego County has awarded its first grant: $5,000 to Helios Care for PPE – personal protective equipment.
The money came from the foundation’s newly established COVID-19 Relief & Recovery Fund.
“This award to Helios Care captures the goal of the fund to support first-line health care providers by supplying them with (PPE) they need to safely conduct home visits,” said foundation President Harry Levine. “The Community Foundation of Otsego County is honored to be able to award these funds to Helios Care.”
Additionally, the United Way of Delaware & Otsego Counties awarded $2,500 to Helios.
Helios Care sought the funds for staff to use in caring for palliative and hospice care clients.
“Helios Care providers are serving the most vulnerable members of our community during this national emergency,” said Helios CEO Dan Ayres in thanking the foundation.
Though Helios Care has received the first grant, the Community Foundation is reviewing several more applications from local nonprofits seeking help during the COVID-19 crisis.
Additional recipients are expected to be announced soon.
To apply for a grant or donate to the foundation, go to www.cfotsego.org.
COOPERSTOWN – In less than a week, the fledgling Community Foundation of Otsego County raised $127,000 towards its “COVID-19 Relief & Recovery Fund for Otsego County.”
The original $30,000 challenge grant, announced Tuesday, April 21, was matched in 72 hours. A second $20,000 challenge, announced Friday the 24th, was met over the weekend.
“The community is really coming on like gangbusters to support their neighbors and fellow community members,” said Harry Levine, CFOC board chairman.
Encouraged by public support, several donors gave more than once, according to a press release.
COVID-19 has changed our world. Our community faces dire health and economic shocks that have disrupted our way of life and will continue to affect us for the foreseeable future.
The Community Foundation of Otsego County was created in 2019 with the mission of improving the quality of life for all the Otsego County area. We were about to publicly announce our formation when COVID-19 attacked. Rather than wait until the emergency passes, the Board of the Foundation has decided now is the time of greatest need and the Foundation must take a leading role in addressing the challenge.
Harry Levine, former president of the Otsego Land Trust, is now leading the formation of The Community Foundatio of Otsego County.
For those not familiar with CFOC and how we have been building resources to announce our introduction to the Otsego County community, we are an IRS designated nonprofit public charity (501c3).
Our mission is to improve the quality of life for all in the Otsego County area primarily through gathering financial assets to direct to existing nonprofits in our county – to help them solve problems we all recognize and that are common to rural areas. We have an excellent Board of Directors with members dedicated to our mission.
Community foundations across the nation have taken leadership roles in establishing COVID-19 relief funds. Albany, Syracuse, Utica and Rochester all have established their funds through local community foundations. In each city, local governments, businesses, and service organizations have joined as sponsors, making these funds a central point for donations to meet the emergency needs of their communities.
CFOC has now set up a fund for Otsego County. Initially, the Fund will direct its resources to emergency relief. Once the crisis abates, and if resources remain, the Fund will shift its emphasis to recovery efforts.
The Fund will gather money to address immediate needs in Otsego County (the relief part of the Fund). We know that unemployment is rising and we are seeing growing numbers of
Please See NEW FUND, A6potentially fatal illnesses. The service sector of our economy will be faced with overwhelming assistance requests.
The Fund is a general fund. Every $1 donated will be disbursed as awards (CFOC will underwrite the administrative expenses). Awards will be made to existing organizations that have proven abilities to deliver services (CFOC does not currently have the expertise or time to evaluate new organizations).
The Fund will be a major county-wide effort to use private donations to address the COVID-19 emergency. To do this, CFOC must partner with many individuals, businesses, and other community organizations, and private foundations. We are asking you to join us as contributors to the Fund.
To be clear, this fund is an additional resource and cannot replace local, state or federal funding. Nor is it designed to shift funds away from existing nonprofits – in fact, awards by the Fund will go entirely to nonprofits to deliver services. Please do not support our efforts at the expense of your continuing support of existing and productive nonprofit organizations.
►DESCRIPTION OF THE FUND
Our immediate concern is relief. We will rely upon existing nonprofit organizations that are on the front lines of responding to these needs. Awards will be issued to meet the following priorities:
• Support for medical workers, EMTs, police, firefighters, and others in essential industries who risk their own health to serve the community.
• Prevention measures such as education and sanitary supplies to limit the spread of the virus.
• Support for vulnerable populations, i.e. older adults with compromised immune systems, and people who are unhoused.
• Practical needs, in case of disruption in services to vulnerable populations, such as meal delivery and daily living support for homebound older adults.
• Food access and other practical support for people who have lost wages or are unable to stock up on food, specifically those who fall in the gaps of government-led responses.
• Support for workers, especially low-wage workers, to address lack of access to healthcare and paid sick leave, lack of proper safety equipment, economic impact of lost wages due to quarantines, cancelled activities, reduced hours/layoffs.
• Other emerging, immediate needs.
As we learn more about the impacts of the pandemic, priorities may change, but the overarching purpose of the Fund will remain the same.
►LET’S GET GOING
The Fund has been organized to work smoothly. See our website at www.cfotsego.com for more details and how to make a contribution. We can accept checks or credit card payments.
We are operating with unpaid volunteers and will underwrite all development and administrative costs. CFOC will not charge any fees to the Fund.
The Board of CFOC has authorized an initial investment of $50,000 to start the Fund, of which $30,000 is a $1 for $1 matching challenge to the community to participate.
Please join us as we work as One Community – One County to rise to the challenges created by this pandemic.
COOPERSTOWN – Local citizens face “an emergency need” to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the new Community Foundation of Otsego County. So at 2 p.m. today, the CFOC announced it has created the COVID-19 Relief & Recovery Fund.
“Otsego County unemployment is rising and we are seeing growing numbers of potentially fatal illnesses,” CFOF announced in a statement. “The nonprofit service sector of our economy is faced with overwhelming assistance requests, and we are going to help.”
The CFOC is chairman by Harry Levine, Town of Springfield, former president of the Otsego Land Trust. The vice chair is Gary Herzig, Oneonta’s mayor; treasurer, Sarah Manchester, Oneonta, limited partner in Edward Jones, the financial advisers, and secretary, Bob Schlather, the Cooperstown attorney and accountant.
