Southwest Minnesota COVID-19 Relief Fund seeks donations
Written by Julie Buntjer, via The Globe
WORTHINGTON — When Nobles County became an epicenter for the COVID-19 pandemic in Minnesota in late April, Lisa Kremer, Parish Social Ministry Coordinator for the Worthington Deanery, received a phone call from an individual concerned about the community’s immigrant workforce.
These people wouldn’t be eligible for unemployment or any kind of government stimulus payment and would fall through the cracks, he worried.
A day or two later, Kremer received a second call from a Worthington individual expressing the same concerns.
“He got his stimulus check and said he’d like to help people — essential workers who are getting sick,” Kremer explained.
The calls from those two individuals led Kremer to approach Catholic Charities about establishing a COVID-19 Relief Fund to help families who lost significant income due to the pandemic and didn’t qualify for other assistance. With an uncomplicated application process, households could apply for up to $500 to cover housing or utilities expenses.
“We already had an emergency fund in place, so we tweaked that a little,” Kremer said.
Donations began to pour in from throughout the Winona Diocese (the southern two tiers of counties stretching from Winona to Pipestone).
“Because people, early on, heard about what was going on in Worthington, we had a lot of donations from Rochester and Winona and all over the area,” Kremer said, adding that $34,721 has been raised since May.
Catholic Charities started distributing the dollars in June, making direct payments to utility companies and landlords to help those families who sought funds.
More than $27,000 has been spent as of this week, said Kremer. She’s now concerned as the fund has been shrinking just as new COVID-19 cases are increasing.
“We’re down to $7,600, and the applications have been coming in a lot more in the last couple of weeks,” Kremer said Thursday…