In late February, the Tri-County was booming. Restaurants on King Street and across our region were packed with people out enjoying times together sharing a meal. Families were together with youth sports or having fun on the beach.
Suddenly, COVID-19 dramatically changed life as we know it. Our popular places that make the Tri-County special are closed. Suddenly thousands of people are out of jobs and wondering when the storm clouds will clear.
Now is the time that Trident United Way and our loyal supporters are needed more than ever. That's why we created the Tri-County COVID-19 Response Fund.
Generous individuals and corporate partners have stepped up to show an outpouring of love for those negatively affected by the COVID-19 virus by donating more than $179,000 to the Tri-County COVID-19 Response Fund in the first five days of the fund being open. The total includes a $50,000 match from Trident United Way.
The Tri-County COVID-19 Response Fund is intended to address emerging economic needs from COVID-19 (Coronavirus). All funds will stay in the Tri-County. Trident United Way, in partnership with The Post and Courier, is administering the fund.
“This initial response of support for our friends and neighbors is overwhelming and shows how our community steps up to help in times of need,” said Chloe Knight Tonney, Trident United Way President and CEO. “As this crisis continues, more people will be needing our help. Thousands of people in the Tri-County are now without regular paychecks. This is when philanthropy touches lives. It is vital we continue building on these initial donations.”
The economic impact of COVID-19 on the Tri-County could easily grow into the hundreds of millions of dollars when factoring in people out of work and business not being open.
In addition to the 44 individual donors who have made contributions, we give a special thanks to corporate partners who together have donated more than $41,000.
- Berkeley Electric Cooperative
- Ingevity
- LS3P
- NextEra Energy Foundation
- Synovus
- The Post and Courier
Tri-County COVID-19 Response Fund contributions will be used for:
- Basic needs support to address loss of work or other financial hardships
- Deploying efficient emergency networks of agencies with proven on the ground experience
- Support nonprofit partners with the surge of assistance requests and supplement service capacity
Please help our friends and neighbors get through this difficult time. To contribute go to tuw.org/covid19response.
Trident United Way is underwriting all costs associated with dispursing 100% of the funds going directly to COVID-19 response and relief efforts. In the unlikely case all funds are not spent, remaining funds will be set aside in a reserve fund for use during future response efforts.
Trident United Way is uniquely positioned to handle this large-scale effort, as it has a long history of architecting and managing special funds for past disasters like hurricanes and floods.