The City of Santa Monica has received $108,066.05 in donations to address the coronavirus pandemic and costs associated with the May 31 riots.
City Hall began accepting donations in March of this year. Donors can give cash or goods/services directly to the city or to the We Are Santa Monica Fund. Donations to the City can be used for city programs or distributed to non-profits. Donations to the fund are distributed to other non-profit organizations.
As of August 11, the donations were split about 50-50 between donations to the city and to the nonprofit with $54,542.70 in city donations and $53,523.35 to the fund.
So far the city has received donations of masks, food, hand sanitizer, soap, location, baby items, cash and audio visual services.
“Since the launch of the donation program through June 30, 2020, the City received a total of $54,542.70 in in-kind and cash donations,” said a report given to City Council. “All donations are received by the Emergency Operations Center (EOC) and inventory is handled by the EOC Logistics team. The EOC Director approves all distribution of donated items to the City based on City Department needs and needs identified or requested by partner non-profits. Donated items, particularly safety related items, serve the immediate city needs as well as supplement supplied stored in preparation for potential secondary waves of COVID-19 cases.”
Items given to the city have been distributed to residents, businesses, first responders or used for city services.
The Fund received 111 donations ranging from $5 to $10,000.
“Monies from the Fund can be expended to assist the City or its partner nonprofit agencies with projects related to COVID-19 relief,” said the report. “The policy was expanded to also allow for funds to be used for efforts related to relief from looting and civil unrest. Eligible uses for the Fund proceeds for COVID-19 relief include, but are not limited to, distributing food or supplies (such as masks, hand sanitizer, and cleaning products) to those in need as a result of the COVID-19 emergency, supporting medical assistance provided in connection with the COVID-19 emergency, providing technical assistance to assist those in need in applying for resources available from other sources, or supporting volunteers conducting the mission of the organization, such as background checks, uniforms, and food.”
It has used $17,000 to distribute grants to other nonprofits to help purchase sanitation supplies. Recipients include Disability Community Resource Center, Chrysalis Center, We Are Uno, Community Corporation of Santa Monica, American Cancer Society, Clare Matrix, Venice Family Clinic, St Joseph Center, Big Sunday, Westside Food Bank, Meals on Wheels West, The People Concern, AllTogether LA, Salvation Army Adult Rehabilitation, Salvation Army, Metro Church and Providence Health & Services.
An additional $6,000 is earmarked for food insecurity efforts and another $10,000 is restricted to housing uses. After overhead is accounted for, the fund has a balance of $19,990.09 remaining.
For more information visit https://www.calfund.org/wearesantamonica/ or https://www.santamonica.gov/coronavirus.
