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02/02/2021 03:16 PMMike Chapin, the CEO of From You Flowers who provided Old Saybrook CARES in 2020 with its initial matching grant of $30,000, has done it again: He’s made a second $30,000 donation to be used as matching funds to help raise money for the continued need among those in town who’ve been hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic.
CARES (Committee for Active Recovery Efforts) last year exceeded its fundraising goal of $100,000 for grants to local residents in need due to the pandemic. So far more than $96,200 has been distributed to 72 recipients, for an average of $1,336 per grant.
Applicants may apply for up to $1,500 for food, utilities, or housing, childcare or transportation costs arising as a result of layoffs or unemployment due to COVID-19. While initial guidelines specified that only one grant was available per family, the committee is now permitting second applications, which will be considered after new grant applications are reviewed.
The CARES grant committee reviews applications with input on eligibility from Youth & Family Services.
Old Saybrook CARES is an ad-hoc committee that arose from the town’s Long Term Recovery Committee (LTRC), established last June as an immediate response to Governor Ned Lamont’s urging of local governments to join the state’s pandemic recovery. Led by First Selectman Carl P. Fortuna, Jr., and Emergency Management Director Michael A. Spera, LTRC membership comes from town government, local businesses, and residents.
Middlesex United Way has lent CARES its website so that applications can be made online.
“We were very focused on a rapid ‘get to market’ [approach] and needed a partner who could help us do that,” said CARES Committee Chair Mark Ricciardelli by email. “The United Way recognized the need and agreed that they would waive their normal fees so that 100 percent of every dollar raised would go directly to those people in need. Any other operating expenses have been absorbed by the CARES team with support from the Town of Old Saybrook.”
An application as well as a donation form can be found at middlesexunitedway.org/oldsaybrookcares. For more information, email oldsaybrookcares@oldsaybrookct.gov. Checks can be mailed to Old Saybrook CARES Committee, c/o Town Hall.