When the novel coronavirus pandemic hit, the Inland Empire Community Foundation jumped into action doing what it does best: helping organizations and people throughout the IE in need of assistance.

The IECF expects to present about $450,000 in grants to local nonprofits assisting those most seriously affected by the pandemic as well as aid groups that need to continue operating.

One of the foundations first efforts was the COVID-19 Resilience Fund, with recent grants ranging from $5,000 to $20,000 for such nonprofits. Among them, that top amount was awarded to Angel View, which assists disabled children and adults in Riverside County through a variety of programs including group homes and support for families caring for disabled kids at home.

Based in the Coachella Valley, Angel Views award has been a blessing, said Executive Director Patti Park. The grant was especially well-timed because the nonprofits 21 Inland Empire retail stores, through which it receives funding, were forced to close on March 20. The stores reopened May 23.

It got crazy busy for the case managers trying to help families in a new way, Park said.

Grant funds are helping case managers assist disabled children through the Angel View Outreach program, which provides essential support and services at no cost to families; and with mileage reimbursement when families need to take their kids for treatment at Loma Linda University Childrens Hospital.

The San Bernardino-based Child Care Resources Center also received $20,000. Director James Moses said that since the pandemic began, requests for assistance from his organization have more than tripled. Grant funds are being used to buy, box and distribute fresh food and personal care items weekly to low-income families from CCRC facilities in San Bernardino and Victorville.

This has a great impact on our families, he said. One, it provides them with healthy and nutritious foods they might not normally be able to purchase on their own if money is tight fresh food and vegetables, beans and rice, and dry goods. Also soap and laundry detergent.

We are seeing more and more requests for these items, especially self-care items, Moses continued, adding that childcare providers need more cleaning supplies to keep their facilities safe.

Most local childcare providers, especially family based providers, remained open to serve the children of essential workers, and while the revenues are down, costs remain high, Moses said.

The Inland Empire Community Foundation administers the Brouse Scholarship Program, which was awarded to these women in 1965 and continues helping students to this day. (Photo courtesy Inland Empire Community Foundation)

In 1941, local civic leader and banker Charles Brouse established the Riverside Distribution Committee, the precursor to todays Inland Empire Community Foundation. (Photo courtesy Inland Empire Community Foundation)

Sound

The gallery will resume inseconds

Michelle Decker, IECF president and CEO (Photo courtesy Inland Empire Community Foundation)

Molly Adams bequeathed more than $4 million in real estate to what is now the Inland Empire Community Foundation to establish the Molly Adams Endowed Scholarship Fund, which benefits disabled youth who are pursuing a college education. (Photo courtesy Inland Empire Community Foundation)

Founded in 1941, the IECF is the oldest and largest community foundation serving Riverside and San Bernardino counties. It helps individuals, families and businesses, partners with donors, and invests and administers more than $100 million in charitable assets, said Michelle Decker, the president and CEO.

Previously called The Community Foundation, that more generic name was changed this year to add Inland Empire.

This was a chance for people in the IE to see they had their own foundation, Decker said. When the pandemic hit, we saw it through the lens of a disaster. Opening the COVID-19 Resilience Fund was a chance for us to say, Here we are, we are going to have to take care of each other, right here and right now.

Fast facts: Inland Empire Community Foundation

Information: http://www.iegives.org

Editors note: A version of this story appeared in the summer 2020 issue of Riverside Magazine.

Continue reading here:
Inland Empire Community Foundation has a history of helping in the region - Press-Enterprise