NEW ORLEANS – Baptist Community Ministries, a faith-based Christian foundation providing philanthropic services in the Greater New Orleans area, announced an additional $400,000 in grants to support critical community needs due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The grants will offer continued support to two local nonprofis: Second Harvest Food Bank of Greater New Orleans and Acadiana, and United Way of Southeast Louisiana. Altogether, BCM has awarded nearly $1,000,000 in crisis pandemic grants.
“I’m continuously impressed by and honored to work with our Board of Trustees during such a monumental time,” said Charles Beasley, president and CEO of BCM. “Our Trustees were able to see the direct impact of the first crisis grants awarded and recognized the continuing needs of our community. The BCM team is thankful to make an impact and help those people who so desperately need the assistance.”
“The BCM Board of Trustees recognized the economic struggles due to COVID-19 were not going to quickly pass,” said Frank Kelly, chairman of BCM’s Board of Trustees. “When discussing how we could provide further support, we realized a second round of crisis grants made the quickest impact to our communities.”
A grant of $200,000 was awarded to Second Harvest Food Bank of Greater New Orleans and Acadiana. The grant will help pay for the increased demand to get meals to families in need, especially seniors and children.
BCM granted United Way of Southeast Louisiana $200,000 towards its Hospitality Cares Pandemic Response Fund. The fund will award one-time emergency grants up to $500 to eligible individuals to provide temporary assistance to cover items included in the ALICE (Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed) household survival budget, including essentials like housing, childcare, food, transportation and health care.