NEWS

The Board of Advisors of the newly-formed Davidson Community Foundation (DCF) is pleased to announce DCF’s first grant awards to six local non-profit partners, including Ada Jenkins Center, Davidson-Cornelius Child Development Center, Davidson Housing Coalition, Gethsemane Baptist Church, Habitat for Humanity (Davidson homeowners), and Reeves Temple AME Zion Church. The Emergency Fund grants, totaling over $165,000, were awarded based on detailed needs assessments and associated funding support requirements. The grants will provide urgently-needed direct assistance to residents and congregation members suffering from the job and health impacts of the COVID-19 crisis.

The Reverend Michael Flowers, pastor of Gethsemane Baptist Church shared, “We are grateful to be working with Davidson Community Foundation to help meet the needs of our community. We believe that the only way to get through these challenging times is together.”

DCF board member and Grants Committee chair Ellen Donaldson stated, “The Board has worked non-stop over the past two weeks to raise the funds necessary to help so many of our neighbors with urgent needs for basic support services, including food, medications, rent, mortgage and utility payments. We are grateful to our donors and thrilled that we were able to raise the funding requested by these wonderful non-profit organizations to help the most vulnerable in our community.”

“The Ada Jenkins Center is deeply grateful for this incredibly generous support from Davidson Community Foundation.” said Georgia Krueger, Executive Director. “With this gift, we will be able to provide emergency financial assistance to eight client-partner families, as well as food for nearly 30 Habitat homeowners in Davidson. COVID-19 has jolted everyone’s lives, and we are thankful to Davidson Community Foundation for helping these families manage during these traumatic times.”

The DCF Board’s fundraising efforts will continue to support our local non-profits facing expanding community needs from the COVID-19 crisis. According to DCF Board member Dave Cable, “The DCF goal is to raise at least $250,000 to address the additional and emerging needs of our neighbors who’ve been impacted by COVID-19. Our aim is to be there for our local non-profit partners and those they serve. The Board hopes by mid-summer to begin focusing our efforts on longer-term strategies and plans for transformative needs in Davidson.”

To make a tax-deductible donation to DCF Emergency Fund to help our neighbors in need, please donate online at www.fftc.org/Davidson, or send a check payable to Foundation For The Carolinas, ATTN: Davidson Community Foundation, 220 North Tryon Street, Charlotte, NC 28202. For questions or additional information please contact Dave Cable at [email protected] or Ellen Donaldson at [email protected].

As a direct result of the success of fundraising efforts in April, DCF notified the Mayor and members of the Town Board that they were suspending a request for $50,000 from the Town of Davidson. However, DCF Board members added that while they celebrated the distribution of the grant funding to local nonprofits, that they were confident that community needs will grow and extend beyond July. As such, they anticipate additional requests for emergency funding.

About Davidson Community Foundation

Davidson Community Foundation’s mission is to enhance the lives of Davidson residents, now and for generations, by working with local leaders and donors to build and distribute a community fund to address Davidson’s most pressing needs. This citizen-driven initiative is designed to substantially expand local philanthropy and direct it to where it’s most needed. The Fund provides both transformative grants to local non-profit organizations to address long-term, high-impact needs, as well as pressing needs through the Emergency Fund. Through grants to local, non-profit charitable organizations, the Emergency Fund will augment the ability of the Davidson community to respond to the COVID-19 crisis.