The Grant Assessment Committee has been busy the last several months reviewing the virtual flood of emergency grant requests due to the Coronavirus outbreak and its impacts on our community. However, despite the flurry of emergency grant activity we, at Lake Toxaway Charities, have not forgotten our commitment to you and our supported agencies to review routine grant requests.
Your Grant Assessment Committee met on May 26th to discuss our 2020 grant requests. Several grant requests were formally approved in the meeting, but others required additional due diligence and site visits, eight of which were completed just last week. Each agency request stands on its own merit each year, and we “say no” if a new agency does not meet our mission’s criteria. We have, in fact, reduced funding and/or turned down current agencies based on our site visit and/or their current description of need.
Due to the incredible response from our donors, a RECORD $642,000 was granted this June, which is a 72% increase over the record 2019 grant amount of $372,000. Lake Toxaway Charities now serves total of 51 agencies. In addition to these routine grants, our donors also raised an incredible $175,000 in "emergency grant" funding. Thus far, $75,500 in emergency COVID grants have been approved in 2020 to provide for the critical needs of our neighbors: food, shelter, and prescription medications. The remainder is being held in reserve to supply additional emergency grants for food and shelter and medical needs through Christmas due to the unprecedented need in Transylvania County in the wake of the Coronavirus.
We have highlighted a few of the approved 2020 grants below. We look forward to sharing more with you in our next e-blast. We take your trust in us seriously. Thank you for your generosity. Your donations go to very good causes and support many deserving people in our county.
