Food bank extending reach with $113k donation

(CNS): The local food bank will be extending its support to the local community beyond feeding those in immediate need after receiving a CI$113,000 donation. Naomi Law from the Cayman Food Bank said the charity will be expanding the services it offers to the community beyond food assistance in the face of growing and widening needs.

The cash has been given to the charity by the R3 Cayman Foundation, the fund established with money from Ken Dart to help mitigate the fallout from the pandemic, which has been raising money in the wider private sector. This latest donation came from Cayman Finance Cares, the charity arm of Cayman Finance, and has gone straight to the food bank.

“We are very grateful for the generous donations from both Cayman Finance and R3,” said Law, the charity’s fundraising director. “The Cayman Food Bank has been working tirelessly to help those in need in our community’s from before COVID hit. Since COVID has impacted our communities on island, we are seeing a large increase in the needs presented.

Law said that with this growing and changing need, the non-profit is committed to setting aside some of the cash to help those with additional needs beyond food.

“We will maintain our current support to the community with food assistance as well. On a case by case basis, our board is evaluating all requests for additional temporary support. We will continue do this until these specific funds are exhausted or until additional funds earmarked for these purposes are raised,” she said.

R3 Chairman Bryan Hunter said, “This donation will matched by the Kenneth B. Dart Foundation for an additional CI$113,000 that the Readiness, Relief and Recovery Committees will distribute to impactful organisations and projects in our community.”

When the fund was created with the first CI$1 million from Dart, the islands’ wealthiest investor and landowner had committed to matching donations from others in the private sector up to $4 million.

Initially the R3 foundation received pledges of around CI$2 million in addition to the seed money, which meant the charity had access to around $5 million. However it is not clear how much of that $2 million private sector commitment has actually converted into hard cash.

So far the foundation has given out an estimated CI$650,000 with this latest donation. CNS has contacted officials at the foundation in order to establish the exact figure and how much has been pledged to date.

R3 intends to support the community as it emerges from the pandemic, and Woody Foster, who chairs the arm of the foundation dealing with relief, said it is working to better understand how it has impacted the local community.

“Early on in the pandemic the need for food relief was very apparent but now, as more unemployed workers have left the country, a different picture is emerging,” he said. “We understand the current economic conditions have exacerbated challenges for families and individuals who were already struggling before the borders closed, and one of our main priorities now is supporting charities providing utility relief,” Foster explained.

“Beyond the economic effects, we are also developing a better understanding of the long-term impacts of COVID-19 in terms of mental health, domestic violence and education in our community,” he added.

R3 is accepting grant applications from local non-profit organisations or those exempted from non-profit status under current legislation.

Eligible organisations with projects related to readiness, relief or recovery, should apply for funding using a short application available on the R3 website.