Chatham County Awarded $156,880 in Federal Funds under the Emergency Food and Shelter Programs


Chatham County has been awarded $156,880 in federal funds under the Emergency Food and Shelter National Board Program. The funds, which will be used to supplement emergency food and shelter programs in this area, will be distributed in 2010 (Phase 28) to the qualifying organizations selected by the Local Board. United Way of the Coastal Empire serves as the administrator of the Local Board.

The selection was made by a National Board made up of affiliates of national voluntary organizations chaired by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). The Board was charged to distribute funds appropriated by Congress to help expand the capacity of food and shelter programs in high-need areas around the country.

Under the terms of the National Board, local governmental or private voluntary organizations chosen to receive funds must: (1) be nonprofit, (2) have an accounting system and conduct an annual audit, (3) practice nondiscrimination, (4) have demonstrated the capability to deliver emergency food and/or shelter programs, and (5) if they are a private voluntary organization, they must have a voluntary board.

A local board made up of representatives from local emergency services agencies, United Way of the Coastal Empire, City and County governments, Catholic Charities, American Red Cross, Jewish Federation, the Salvation Army, other organizations and community volunteers will determine how the funds are to be distributed among emergency food and shelter programs run by local service organizations.

The Local Board is responsible for recommending agencies to receive these funds and any additional funds available under this phase of the program.

Qualifying organizations are urged to apply. Application for funding deadline is Friday, March 12, 2010 by 5 p.m. For further information, please contact Richard Edwards at the United Way office at 912.651.7727 or redwards@uwce.org.

The Local Emergency Food and Shelter Board for Chatham County distributed $165,157 in 2009 with 17 area non-profit organizations participating. Also in 2009, Chatham County received $80,243 in Stimulus Funds under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.

These funds were also distributed to local non-profit organizations selected by the Local Board.

These organizations were responsible for providing: nights of shelter, meals, emergency utility assistance and bills paid for rent/mortgages.


Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.