First Round of $25,000 in Urgent Needs Fund Grants Announced

4/28/2020

Alpena, Mich. - The first round of grants from the Community Foundation for Northeast Michigan’s new Urgent Needs Fund puts $25,000 directly into the hands of local nonprofits to help area residents with basic needs. A second round of grants is expected in the next two weeks.

First round grants include:

• $1,500 to Cheboygan County Habitat for Humanity to provide basic needs to struggling community members in Cheboygan and Presque Isle Counties;
• $500 to Grace Lutheran East Tawas to provide a basic needs food / supply pantry for those in need in Iosco County;
• $3,500 to United Way of Northeast Michigan for its partner organizations which are frontline human service agencies in the region;
• $1,250 to FISH, Inc. to help Iosco County residents with housing, utilities, and medicine;
• $1,500 to Crawford Roscommon Child Protection Council to ensure the wellbeing of at-risk families with small children and infants in Crawford County;
• $2,000 to Alcona Commission on Aging to meet increased demand for home-delivered meal services and community food assistance;
• $4,367 to C.O.O.R. ISD Great Start Collaborative to help Ogemaw and Oscoda County families with food, essential items, cleaning supplies, and baby items;
• $1,633 to Alpena Area Senior Citizens to support the higher demand for Meals on Wheels for Alpena seniors;
• $3,000 to River House, Inc. for reorganizing efforts to help victims of domestic and sexual abuse in Crawford, Ogemaw and Oscoda Counties;
• $1,500 to Child and Family Services of Northeast Michigan for basic needs of the families in Montmorency County;
• $1,100 to Presque Isle Office of Emergency Management to purchase infrared no-contact thermometers for first responders in Presque Isle County;
• $1,550 to Church of the Straits to provide a basic needs food / supply pantry for Cheboygan County and Mackinaw City;
• $1,600 to Boys and Girls Club of Alpena to purchase food and cover rent and utility costs for those unable to work due to COVID-19.

In addition to the amounts above, Cheboygan County Habitat for Humanity and Church of the Straits received an additional $1,450 each from the Straits Area Youth Advisory Council’s Kellogg Youth Fund to supplement grant funding in their communities.

CFNEM Executive Director Patrick Heraghty says that current funding is limited to the original $80,000 with which the fund was started, and some additional donations that have been received, but the needs will continue to grow. Additional donations would help the Foundation put more money directly into the hands of nonprofits who are on the human services frontline of this pandemic.

“Just seeing the first round of grant applications, we can see that the need is significant in our communities for basic needs support,” said CFNEM Executive Director Patrick Heraghty. “We hope those in a position to donate right now will consider a gift to this fund, or to a nonprofit organization directly that is serving in this capacity.”

The Urgent Needs Fund was established by CFNEM in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and its economic consequences for residents of northeast Michigan. The fund covers the entire CFNEM service area of Alcona, Alpena, Montmorency and Presque Isle Counties; as well as the communities in its three affiliate foundations: Iosco County Community Foundation, North Central Michigan Community Foundation (Crawford, Ogemaw and Oscoda Counties), and Straits Area Community Foundation (Cheboygan County and Mackinaw City).

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