Donations to the Bobcaygeon and Area COVID-19 Relief Fund have now topped $150,000, organizers announced on Monday (April 27).
The fund was established at the end of March in response to the tragic COVID-19 outbreak at Pinecrest Nursing Home in Bobcaygeon, which eventually claimed the lives of 28 people living at the home and devastated the tight-knit community.
The fund is intended to provide immediate support to eligible individuals, families, and health care workers in the Bobcaygeon area who are in need of financial assistance.
“The level and creativity of giving shows great generosity and community support,” says Bobcaygeon councillor Kathleen Seymour-Fagan, who leads the fund with a team of local volunteer advisors. “It really demonstrates incredible spirit.”
So far, the fund has dispersed more than 30 per cent of donations, including support for staff at Pinecrest Nursing Home and seniors’ residences as well as local individuals and families. This includes supplying access to food supplies, support for a 24/7 crisis line for local residents (especially youth who may be isolated in difficult home situations), and mental wellness counselling.
“We are very pleased that the funds are getting in the hands of people who need them,” says Mike Perry, president of the Community Foundation of Kawartha Lakes, the charitable organization administering the fund. “We are honoured that the community foundation could be used to manage the funds professionally and that the foundation’s flexibility is helping in these very hard times.”
Decisions on distribution of the funds are made by a group of local volunteer advisors — Dianne Lister, Ann Adare, Elizabeth Byrnes, Jelle Visser, and Kathy Dufton — led by Seymour-Fagan working together with the foundation.
Donations have come from individuals, businesses, service clubs, and associations in Bobcaygeon, across Kawartha Lakes, and from as far away as Miami.
Businesses and organizations that have made substantial donations to date include Stewart Morrison Insurance, British Empire Fuels, Kawartha Dairy, Kawartha Art Gallery, Whitney Plastics, Transicor, Darling Insurance, Kinsmen Club of Lindsay, Bigley Shoes and Clothing, Buckeye Surf, Sentinel Risk Insurance Group, Excel Beyond Insurance, Crazy Monkey Tree Service, and the local Lions Club.
You can donate to the fund online at canadahelps.org/en/dn/47803, by e-transfer to info@kawarthafoundation.ca, or by cheque sent to Community Foundation of Kawartha Lakes C/O Stewart Morrison Insurance 158 Lindsay St. S, Lindsay On, K9V 2N1. Tax receipts will be issued through the Community Foundation of Kawartha Lakes.
People who are in need of support under the Bobcaygeon and Area COVID-19 Relief Fund can contact Seymour-Fagan at kseymourfagan@kawarthalakes.ca or 705-731-9775.
On Sunday (April 26), a COVID-19 outbreak was declared at Case Manor, the other long-term care facility in Bobcaygeon, after four residents and four staff members tested positive for the virus.
