Help for Families:

During the pandemic, the OCCF looked carefully to see how the CARES Act benefits would cover the needs of Owen County families. We bolstered our support for food pantries and brainstormed new ways to support the people of Owen County. Our support for families also covered the difficulties experienced during period of e-learning for the students in the household. As our community transitioned to solely to e-learning, we learned a lot about what the lack of high-speed internet access means in a crisis. We want to thank the educational leaders for all they did and continue to do to help our students.

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Help Keep Local Businesses Afloat:

Your OCCF worked closely with the Chamber of Commerce and our local banks to gain knowledge on the devestating impacts that COVID-19 had on our local businesses. The Foundation received funding from United Way that was distributed to small businesses in Owen County. The grants were worth up to $5,000 and a total of We’ll be working closely with the Chamber and our local banks to assess the potentially devastating impacts on our local businesses. This is another area where we’ll be watching and listening to see how the federal support translates to real help for our businesses.  

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Help Our Local Non-Profits:

This is our normal area of experience. We usually work with non-profits to help them with new programs or capital projects, but we see that we may need to shift our support to general operations. Food pantries continuing their generous work. And let’s be clear it’s not some inanimate closet that’s making food available, real humans are continuing to work through the danger. Just like local businesses, we don’t want to see any non-profit or charity close their doors as a result of this crisis. 

 

We will ask our local non-profits to use some of their valuable time to answer a survey that we’ll be sending out next week asking about our local needs. If your organization would like to provide input, please send us an email and we’ll make sure you get the survey. We’re also encouraging non-profits to reach out to us and connect with the rest of the non-profit community on the OCCF Facebook group – Owen County Community Foundation NFP Group. We need to know what your immediate and future needs will be. 

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Special Support for Special People:

We will also be working with other non-profits to determine if there is a way for us to support the “essential” workers out there. Are you a nurse that doesn’t feel safe going home to your family, so you’re spending money on a hotel? What support can be provided for childcare (I know a local group has formed to try and find some short-term solutions. We’re following that effort.) 

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Also in this category, we’ll consider special people like our graduating Owen Valley and Cloverdale students. Can we support them with a special event later in the year? Can we arrange a virtual celebration? What else can we do for our neighbors whose lives have been so disrupted by this crisis. 

 

All this support will obviously require money. We don’t have two trillion dollars (neither do the Feds but don’t say anything out loud just now), but we’ll take advantage of what we do have on hand and what we can raise. Your OCCF staff and board is reviewing all available assets to see what we have to offer. In addition, just like we always do, we’ll be looking for help from outside the community. We know Lilly Endowment Inc has made funds available to the United Way in Monroe County since we don’t have one here, so we’ll working closely with them to coordinate any support available from them with what we have going on here. 

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