As of today, each and every one of our students and their families have been contacted by a Grace Place team member to determine what impact, financial or other, this pandemic has had on them. Presently, two-thirds of our families have been negatively impacted financially due to the coronavirus. Many of our parents’ jobs have been lost or furloughed indefinitely, while others have reduced hours, or have needed to forego hours to stay at home with their children due to school closures.  So far, our families are cumulatively losing over $1M per month in lost wages.

While the Collier County Public School System (CCPS) has taken heroic measures to continue to provide breakfast and lunch to the students in Collier County, there are still a number of children not being adequately fed, thereby impacting our families’ health and wellness. Moreover, where hunger is concerned, there are additional challenges that have been identified. There are Grace Place families who simply do not have the means to access the CCPS distribution sites to pick up the pre-packed meals being provided to students through CCPS. Furthermore, Bright Beginnings parents and their children under the age of five, who would have normally been provided breakfast and a snack at Grace Place during the week, no longer have access to this food assistance. Many parents just don’t have the resources to feed their families adequately, due to lost income.

As a result of school closures impacting our Bright Beginnings, after school Academy of Leaders, and Adult Education programming, eighty-five of our part-time and hourly staff have also been negatively financially impacted due to being furloughed. As the majority of our grant funding is paid based on reimbursement for actual expense, our furloughed employees are losing $15,000.42 each week due to COVID-19.

With the coronavirus outbreak in the U.S. continuing to grow, Grace Place is doing everything in its power to provide relief for people impacted by this pandemic, big and small. Our food pantry has remained open, distributing food and other essential items to an increasing number of families that visit the food pantry each week. As a supplemental pantry, our food pantry typically limits families to receiving food every other week. We have waived this restriction for the next several months.

Our talented program team continues to provide academic support, resources and family literacy programming to students through virtual lessons and activities on the Family Home-Learning Guide. While school-aged students are supported largely through the CCPS e-learning portal, our online resources have been especially beneficial to our Bright Beginnings and Adult Education students, providing them with stimulating activities to continue learning at home.

While we remain committed to providing pathways out of poverty through education, at this critical time of need, we are focused on providing those we serve with resources to support their health, well-being and to survive this financial hardship, while continuing to meet their educational needs.

Now more than ever, we cannot do so without your support. In addition to providing educational programming and emergency food relief, we are currently exploring ways to assist our families and employees as they try to mitigate the repercussions of financial loss that this pandemic has already caused. A loss that will undoubtedly continue until a resolution has been found.

Our work to support the Grace Place community is made possible by your support. Even when so many of us feel helpless, you can make a difference for so many who are impacted by this disaster.