Grants Announced to Support Nonprofit Hurricane Maria Relocation Efforts

The Community Foundation of Greater New Britain (CFGNB) and the American Savings Foundation have announced that applications are being accepted from non-profit organizations to aid their efforts to assist people who were displaced by Hurricane Maria.

The foundations worked together to create the Hurricane Maria Puerto Rico Relief Fund and have announced that the Fund has raised more than $42,000. The foundations say that they are hopeful that donations to the Fund will reach the goal of $50,000.

Thirty percent of the Fund is reserved to help local nonprofit organizations in their work to assist people displaced by the storm. Seventy percent of the Fund is to be sent to Puerto Rico to assist with rebuilding in the wake of the hurricane.

Applications for grants to local organizations are available on the CFGNB website.

“With resources to assist those in need so limited,” said David Obedzinski, president of the Community Foundation of Greater New Britain, “and local agencies struggling to do what they can for victims who more than four months after the storm hit still may not know where their next night will be spent, this fund and the modest grants it will provide will prove vital. Every little bit will help in bringing these victims a bit closer to a sense of normalcy.”

The grant application says that, “A Proposal may be submitted at any time and is required before the Relief Fund committee will consider a request. Requests cannot exceed $5,000 and will be considered on a rolling basis as funds allow.”

Organizations applying for a grant are asked to explain the populations they serve, their capacity to help people displaced from Puerto Rico, the increased demand for services they are seeing and how a grant would be used to meet that need.

The CFGNB says that,

Applications for funding are open only to local non-profit organizations with tax-exempt status under Section 501(c)(3) of the United States IRS Code or which are a qualified entity eligible to receive grants from community foundations under the IRS code. Only qualified agencies or organizations specifically involved in relocation efforts for or assistance to hurricane victims are eligible.

Obedzinski is encouraging local residents, businesses and organizations to help meet the fundraising goal of $50,000. The CFGNB says that,

To donate online, visit www.cfgnb.org, click on GIVE NOW! and select the Hurricane Maria Puerto Rico Relief Fund from the drop-down menu. To donate by mail, make a check payable to the Hurricane Maria Puerto Rico Relief Fund and mail to Community Foundation of Greater New Britain, 74A Vine Street, New Britain, CT 06052.

Hurricane Maria, one of the worst Atlantic cyclones in history, devastated Puerto Rico, Dominica, St. Croix and other Caribbean islands in September of 2017. In the wake of the storm, people in New Britain began multiple relief efforts to help people in Puerto Rico and in Dominica and St. Croix.