Maryland Community Newspapers Online
Starting in January, Frederick County families experiencing hardship will be able to find assistance through a new relief fund at The Community Foundation of Frederick County.
The foundation announced Monday the creation of The 2009 Family Relief Fund that will dole quarterly grants to county nonprofits that provide food, healthcare, job training and counseling services. Those nonprofit organizations will then decide which families to help.
According to Betsy Day, Community Foundation president, the fund was established without an initial sum of money, though several hundreds of dollars in donations have already been made.
The Community Foundation — a charitable organization of funds often created in honor of an individual, nonprofit or business—announced the new fund during its 2007-08 annual report to the community at The Holiday Inn at the Francis Scott Key Mall in Frederick.
Day said the organization created the relief fund in response to the increase in demand at local food banks, job training centers and other social services.
The novel part of The Family Relief Fund is that whatever contributions it receives will immediately go back to the community in the next quarter, Day said Monday.
"We're going to have impact in a more immediate sense," she added. "This is our opportunity to reach out to the community and be able to gather resources for the common good."
The new fund is different than a typical fund at The Community Foundation, she noted, because the money in regular funds is invested and scholarships and grants are awarded once per year. Similar relief funds have been established before at the foundation, including funds for local families who fled hurricanes Katrina and Rita, Day noted.
Kate Costlow-D'Amore, the foundation's chairman, said The Family Relief Fund was established in a period of two weeks as a way to help families in these tough economic times.
"The need for what we do goes up in times like this," Costlow-D'Amore said of the foundation's role in the community.
Despite bleak economic news across the country, The Community Foundation of Frederick County is "holding strong," Day noted, and traditional donors have continued their support.
According to its 2007-08 annual report, the foundation gave away nearly $2.7 million through grants and 295 scholarships. Nearly 40 percent of The Community Foundation's giving benefited health and human service needs this year, while 21 percent helped education programs.
The foundation's assets now total more than $45 million.
