The Athens Area Community Foundation and United Way of Northeast Georgia recently distributed a fifth round of funding from the COVID-19 Community Response Fund. This time, Athens Tech and Lanier Tech received a total of $50,000. Kay Keller is President and CEO of the United Way.
“The students have been affected in the way of, do I pay tuition, or do I pay for my housing this month and so, certainly some job losses and that kind of thing which unfortunately have changed some priorities and so we want to give those students an opportunity to continue their education,” Keller said.
Keller says the money provided allows recipients flexibility in how they administer the funds.
“This was really a great opportunity to be able to bridge that gap, those barriers that the students have faced with transportation, work study program book costs. Just anything that affects that student from making that decision or having to prioritize and not be able to make that education. It affects our work force development.”
The Community Fund was created to provide relief to organizations in the 12-county region supported by the United Way.
“Since the COVID-19 Community Response Fund started, we’ve raised $416,000. We’ve deployed $318,000 of that.”
For more information, or to donate to the COVID-19 Community Response Fund, visit www.athensareacf.org.
