Each year, June is nationally recognized as LGBTQ Pride Month and while it serves as a time of celebration for continued acceptance and the accomplishments of the LGBTQ community, it also serves to commemorate years of struggle for civil rights and the ongoing pursuit of equal justice under the law for the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer community.
We would like to leverage this nationally recognized month to acknowledge the unique struggles that this underrepresented and underserved community faces, especially in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic which is impacting the LGBTQ community at a disproportionate rate.
Matthews Free Medical Clinic has been providing free, quality healthcare to low income, uninsured patients since 2004. They pride themselves on being a medical home for their patients, offering holistic care and treating every patient with dignity and respect.
Prospective patients apply to be part of the clinic and are then assigned a primary care physician, as well as gaining access to a range of specialists from cardiology and pulmonology to chiropractic and orthopedic services. Executive Director Amy Carr emphasized that although the clinic is physically located in Matthews, it serves patients living in all of Mecklenburg and Union Counties.
The Steve Smith Family Foundation (SSFF), founded by retired Panthers player, Steve Smith, has been providing hope and inspiration to those in need since 2013. SSFF was created to advance the causes close to the Smith family's heart including domestic violence, awareness and prevention, and family health and wellness services.
The creators of the largest annual global day of giving, GivingTuesday, introduced #GivingTuesdayNow on May 5, 2020 as an opportunity for communities around the world to come together and give in immediate response to the unprecedented need caused by the current COVID-19 crisis.
#GivingTuesdayNow sparked activity in more than 145 countries on May 5 for a global day of unity and giving. Millions of people expressed their generosity through acts of kindness, donations of goods, time and money, notes of compassion, advocacy for causes, and care for family and friends. Read more about the results of #GivingTuesdayNow on a global scale, here.
Like many organizations during this COVID-19 crisis, our friends at CREW Charlotte had to decide the best way to host their monthly luncheon while stay at home orders were in place in April.
Across Charlotte, the necessity to cancel or reschedule in-person gatherings and events has created a huge gap in programming for countless organizations. Leaders are being forced to forgo the opportunity to bring their groups together, or get really creative in order to provide a meaningful, virtual experience.
For almost 50 years, Planned Parenthood South Atlantic (PPSAT) has been serving the residents of Charlotte and the surrounding Mecklenburg County with compassionate, nonjudgmental care including preventive services like birth control, lifesaving breast and cervical cancer screenings, and sexual health education. Planned Parenthood is the nation’s leading provider and advocate of high-quality, affordable health care for women, men, and young people, as well as the nation’s largest provider of sex education.
For nonprofits working to care for neighbors in need, the latest phase in these unprecedented times has a new name: Now Normal.
As our community eyes a return to some level of life before COVID-19, nonprofits are heeding Gov. Roy Cooper’s three-phase approach that puts safety first. Slowly and carefully, with the health of clients, staff and volunteers in mind, nonprofits are poised to remobilize while retaining the best of what they’ve done sheltering in place.
Here are three illustrations that reflect Now Normal in the nonprofit world in and around Charlotte.
For Rusty Price, founder of Camino Community Center, it’s the faces of those his organization serves that fuels his passion to help during these difficult times.
He describes delivering food recently to a single mom of four who was laid off during COVID-19. “You would’ve thought they had just won the lottery,” he says. “Mom is crying; the kids are jumping up and down. It’s that swing from desperation to hope … that’s enough to keep us going.”
Access to care is a gamble right now but for the roughly 168,000 uninsured Mecklenburg County residents this is the norm. Thanks to Charlotte Community Health Clinic patients can continue to be served despite the barriers and fears due to COVID-19.
In fact, the Chief Medical Officer creatively reorganized the staff into different clinical outreach teams: Homeless, Pediatric, Geriatric, Chronic Disease, etc.
The Lake Norman Community Health Clinic has been providing quality healthcare at no cost to uninsured people in Mecklenburg County for 22 years. So when a global pandemic hit home, they didn't miss a beat. In fact, they were so proactive that they were a model to FEMA and clinics in other states for how to best serve patients during an unprecedented health crisis.
Diverse Mix of Business and Community Leaders Will Help Take Eight-Year-Old Organization To The Next Level
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (5/11/20) – SHARE Charlotte, a one-stop shop for connecting with 400+ Mecklenburg County nonprofits, today announced its 2020 Board of Directors that includes six returning members and three new additions.
“We’ve been very intentional about board size, roles, growth and fit,” said Colleen Brannan, SHARE Charlotte 2020 Board Chair. “Each new and returning board member has a specific skill set SHARE Charlotte needs, a rock star record of volunteerism and passion for community engagement.”
In these crazy times, $50 goes a long way. We did some math. $50 could buy you:
A Standard Netflix subscription to binge-watch your favorite shows for 3.85 months (Stretch the dollar even further with a Disney+ subscription for 7.14 months)
An Amazon Prime subscription to aid in retail therapy
A take-out meal for two from a local Charlotte restaurant (don’t forget to tip!)
A sponsored visit for a patient in need at a Care Ring clinic.
“He who has health, has hope; and he who has hope, has everything.”- Thomas Carlyle
The status of our health influences almost every other aspect of our lives, and without good health many things around us tend to crumble- hope included. Luckily, there are local nonprofits that work hard to keep our community, and in particular some our most vulnerable neighbors, cared for and in good health.
Throughout May, we will be shining our #SpotlightOnCLT, presented by the Amy and Brian France Foundation, on our nonprofit partners who are caring for our neighbors in need and going above and beyond during these unprecedented times when our health is in more jeopardy than potentially ever before.
SHARE WITH US!
We have so much great news to share from our nonprofit partners about their amazing work. But, we'd love to hear from you. Let us know if you have stories you'd like to tell and we'll make you a guest blogger!!
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