The Battle River Community Foundation (BRCF) announced this week that it has committed $100,000 of its discretionary income to establish a flow-through fund available to eligible recipients to assist in sustaining their operations, meeting different or expanded client needs, and to ensure essential organizations can continue to provide the services needed in communities throughout the region.

Executive Director Dana Andreassen says, “The fund is not intended to duplicate government programs developed to respond to this emergency, nor is it designed to replace the normal fundraising processes established by the organizations in the Battle River region.”

The Foundation says that communities served by BRCF are experiencing unprecedented consequences from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Andreassen says, “I think everyone’s first reaction was that this will pass. One of our board members said recently that this isn’t going to pass anytime soon, and we’re going to need a lot of help. We know a lot of people are not working, and food banks, for instance, are going to be stressed in ways we can’t imagine.

“The health and economic impacts throughout the region are unlike anything we have ever seen.

“It is important that we work together to ensure the community supports that define our region are maintained as we learn over the weeks and months to come what our “new normal” will be.”

Andreassen adds, “This isn’t our normal business; life is anything but normal. We recognized that we have the opportunity to help and we need to do something.”

She says that groups are under pressure to provide services, and may no longer have access to a large part of their volunteer base, and can no longer hold traditional fundraising events. “We hold no presupposition that we know what these groups are going through right now.”

To maximize the impact of private donations to this new flow-through fund, the BRCF has also partnered with the Edmonton Community Foundation (ECF) to access provincial funding that matches donations made in support of COVID-19 response programs from April 22 through May 31 if individuals, companies, or organizations wish to donate to this new flow-through fund. “We are grateful the province is providing this assistance.”