{"id":20550,"date":"2024-02-07T14:39:27","date_gmt":"2024-02-07T21:39:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/?p=20550"},"modified":"2024-02-19T14:53:46","modified_gmt":"2024-02-19T21:53:46","slug":"locals-helping-locals-blaine-county-charitable-fund","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/2024\/02\/07\/locals-helping-locals-blaine-county-charitable-fund\/","title":{"rendered":"Locals Helping Locals: Blaine County Charitable Fund"},"content":{"rendered":"

BY MIKE MCKENNA<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"The good thing about hard times is that they often bring out the best in people. The Blaine County Charitable Fund is just such an example.
\nWhen the COVID crisis hit Blaine County, lots of folks were struggling and didn\u2019t know where to turn for help. A small group of locals got together to try to figure out what they could do to help with the challenges facing our community.
\nWhile Blaine County is blessed with numerous nonprofits, the group realized that we were lacking a community financial assistance fund \u2014 the kind you can find in other ski towns like Aspen and Jackson Hole. Once they figured out their path to help, the Blaine County Charitable Fund hit the ground running.
\n\u201cWe needed broad coverage so that we could help the entire community,\u201d Mary Fauth said. \u201cWithin a couple weeks we were rolling, thanks to the help of lots of local nonprofits.\u201d
\nMary worked full time as a volunteer for the first six months and became the executive director once the nonprofit became official. BCCF\u2019s founding board consists of Kevin Jones, Daryl Fauth, Sheila Moriarty, Herbert Romero, Penny Thayer and Steve Thompson, with guidance and support from Lynn Campion. They created a nonprofit that began to show its impact in no time flat.
\nBy April of 2020, BCCF started allocating funds to people in need. Their applications then began doubling every week for months. Rent assistance was the biggest need then and is still part of what BCCF can help with, which includes security deposits and a Rapid Relief Fund for unexpected challenging expenses.
\n\u201cOne of the great things about our organization is that we can pivot quickly and be really nimble with how we can help,\u201d Mary said. \u201cWe were founded because of the crisis, but we are clearly needed in our community post-COVID.\u201d
\nIn just a few years, the BCCF has already helped hundreds of locals get through everything from the global pandemic to the Limelight condos fire.
\n\u201cWe\u2019re trying to find the gaps in our community where people need assistance,\u201d Mary said. \u201cWe have great collaboration of resources and knowledge with our local nonprofits and other leaders, so we can have creative responses to our community\u2019s needs.\u201d
\nAs the stats show, nearly half of our community is one crisis or challenge away from major issues with housing, food and healthcare. It\u2019s really important to have folks like the BCCF here for us.
\n\u201cEvery year we\u2019re finding more and more ways to help support the people we want to be able to live and work in our community,\u201d Mary said. \u201cWe\u2019re trying to make sure those people who feel invisible in our community are seen and heard and helped.\u201d
\nEven though COVID was tough, it helped inspire some locals to prove that Margaret Mead was right: \u201cA small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world.\u201d<\/p>\n

To help or find out more, go to BlaineCF.org or come to the February Business After Hours (BAH) on Thursday, February 15 from 5-7 p.m. at the BCCF offices in the Meriwether Building, 111 N. 1st Ave. in Hailey.<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

BY MIKE MCKENNA The good thing about hard times is that they often bring out the best in people. The Blaine County Charitable Fund is just such an example. When the COVID crisis hit Blaine County, lots of folks were struggling and didn\u2019t know where to turn for help. A small group of locals got […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":20552,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","_pvb_checkbox_block_on_post":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[70,38],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-20550","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-chamber-corner","8":"category-sponsored"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20550","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20550"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20550\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20553,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20550\/revisions\/20553"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20552"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20550"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20550"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20550"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}