United Way launches Covid-19 relief fund

United Way of Northern Ozaukee has started a Covid-19 relief fund to help area families deal with the pandemic.

The fund was started with a $25,000 donation from the MKE Responds Greater Milwaukee Foundation and is intended to help organizations helping people impacted by the coronavirus, United  Way Executive Director Barbara Bates-Nelson said.

“We had to take a step back and say these are unprecedented times,” Bates-Nelson said. “These are basic needs that people are struggling with that we’re talking about.”

United Way traditionally invests a portion of the money it raises each year into safety-net programs that provide emergency assistance for food and rent assistance.

The Corvid-19 Relief Fund will allow it to do more both now and as the pandemic wanes and recovery occurs, Bates-Nelson said.

“These are uncertain times,” she said. “We know the needs will grow. We’re probably just about to enter the time of highest needs.

“I am inspired by the compassion and strength of our volunteers, emergency responders, nonprofit partners and health care personnel who are working tirelessly to ensure our neighbors are healthy, safe and have their basic needs fulfilled.”

Although the relief fund was started with seed money from the MKE Responds Foundation, and Bates-Nelson said she hopes to obtain other foundation money as well as private contributions to supplement that amount.

United Way will not take any administrative costs from the fund, she said.

“One hundred percent of it will go back into the community,” Bates-Nelson said. 

United Way of Northern Ozaukee has also provided agencies it works with an advance on their funding for this year as they struggle to meet increased needs due to the coronavirus pandemic.

“As an organization that has been building stronger communities in Ozaukee County for 70 years, United Way of Northern Ozaukee is leveraging its collective impact to fight for neighbors as this health care crisis unfolds,” Bates-Nelson said.

Last week, she said, the United Way board agreed to provide the rent assistance program and domestic abuse shelters operated by Advocates of Ozaukee and Family sharing with $45,000 in funding —the equivalent of their first and second quarter allocations — as they work to help residents struggling with the impact of the pandemic.

United Way is also looking to provide money to some agencies it hasn’t funded in the past that provide essential services to people most in need at this time, Bates-Nelson said.

Even as United Way works to help fund essential services during the pandemic and to establish ways to help with the long-term impact of the coronavirus, it is trying to be smart about how it uses the money it has, Bates-Nelson said.

That’s especially important since many of the people who have made pledges to United Way may be struggling and no longer in a position to contribute to United Way.

“Charitable giving may not be high on their list if they’re worried about making ends meet,” she said.

People needing assistance may connect to vital local services by calling 211, Bates-Nelson said, or reach the Cope hotline at 377-2673.

To donate to the Covid-19 Relief Fund, visit unitedwayno.org/covid19 or mail a check to United Way of Northern Ozaukee, P.O. Box 39, Port Washington 53074.