West Bay Rotary has teamed up with United Midcoast Charities to support local nonprofits so they can serve the ever-growing demand for their services during the COVID-19 crisis. 

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, United Midcoast Charities has established the Rapid Response Fund. 100% of all donations received will go out as support for local nonprofits that are meeting the immediate needs of individuals seeking help in Knox and Waldo counties.

The fund is intended to provide stopgap support and anticipates the likelihood that local nonprofits will find themselves under-resourced to serve a growing demand for their services, according to West Bay Rotarian, in a news release. This funding will provide support for critical nonprofits like food pantries, homeless shelters, and more so they can continue serving the community.

West Bay Rotary will match donations to the Rapid Response Fund, up to a total of $5,000 in donations made at unitedmidcoastcharities.org/wbr.

“Our board met this week via Zoom to discuss how we could make the most of our resources to help with this current crisis,” said West Bay Rotarian Deborah Fink. “We decided that offering to match donations made to UMC’s Rapid Response Fund could really make the biggest impact to local nonprofits and therefore to our community.”

As of Friday morning, UMC had received more than $2,300 in donations through the above link.

With the matching donations from West Bay Rotary, that amounts to over $4,600 in less than three days, according to Rotary.