WGC Emergency Response Network Request - $5,000 - Can You Help?

The Women’s Giving Circle of Howard County has received a request from our partners at the Community Action Council (CAC) for $5,000 to help women and their families in need. 

Our Emergency Response Network is typically utilized for donations up to $1,000 to help an individual in need, however, during this unprecedented COVID-19 public health crisis, we are inviting donations of up to $5,000 that the WGC will match dollar for dollar to assist in providing adequate amounts of food to support Head Start families in Howard County, served by the CAC.

Can you help? Any amount is appreciated.

From the Community Action Council: The management of the spread of COVID-19 continues to evolve at a fast pace, and, as an organization, CAC has been working diligently to keep abreast of the updates and to respond accordingly.

As the designated anti-poverty organization in our community, CAC is the "go to" entity for the most vulnerable residents of our community. As you might recall, CAC became one of the central points of service during the two most recent floods of 2016 and 2018 and it remains committed to that level of high quality and immediate service. 

After the Governor’s announcement last week to close all public schools, and after consultation with the County Executive and the CAC Executive Committee, CAC made the local determination to continue to keep Head Start open. However, things changed quickly and it became apparent that the best course of action for CAC was to close the Head Start program from March 16 to March 27, 2020.

In order to continue to support the Head Start families during this unprecedented time, CAC respectfully requests the support of the Women’s Giving Circle in order to purchase adequate amounts of food to put together food baskets for three days. ​

CAC anticipates the cost of serving 322 families breakfast and lunch for three days would be approximately $10 per day for a total of $10,000. Additionally, CAC will try to provide a small financial subsidy to support the families with purchase of items not provided in the food baskets. 

Every one of these measures has been put in place with an abundance of care for the health and safety of the CAC staff as well as our commitment to serve the most vulnerable residents of our community.

​Stay healthy, check on your neighbors and know that we will successfully get through this together.

Thank you so much for your consideration.