Meriden United Way Establishes Coronavirus Relief Fund

MERIDEN, CT — The United Way of Meriden and Wallingford has created a response fund in response to the coronavirus pandemic. United Way convened an online meeting with ther prominent local funders to discuss how to meet the overwhelming challenges presented by the s pandemic.

The primary agenda item was to introduce the idea of establishing a coordinated financial response to the coronavirus pandemic within the Meriden and Wallingford communities, according to a statement from United Way.

The group quickly endorsed the idea, expanded to include the entire social service provider community, not just the twenty partner agencies of the UWMW.

John Augustyn, president of the Meriden-Wallingford Community Foundation, suggested that his particular organization was already structured to host such a fund: “Our organization was built for exactly this purpose, can mobilize immediately, and has worked closely with the United Way and other philanthropic organizations for decades.”

This first teleconference included representatives from Cuno Foundation, Liberty Bank Foundation, Ion Bank Foundation, James H. Napier Foundation, Meriden Foundation, Meriden Rotary Foundation, Wallingford Rotary Foundation, Fred Ulbrich Memorial Foundation and City Mission.

A committee of seven of the organizations represented was formed to organize the effort and an initial goal of raising $200,000 within two weeks was set. The fund will be named the Meriden-Wallingford Community Foundation Coronavirus Response Fund.

As George McGoldrick, United Way board president stated: “We wanted to convey that this fund is separate from both our United Way and that it was specifically to help those nonprofits so impacted by the coronavirus pandemic so they could continue assisting their clients.”

The United Way of Meriden and Wallingford will be the administrator, and donations can be made through their website (unitedwaymw.org) or sent by mail to 35 Pleasant Street, Suite 1E, Meriden CT 06450. If requested, donations can be directed specifically to either the Meriden or Wallingford communities, but that is not required.