The Community Chest Responds to Increased Need From COVID-19

The Community Chest of Eastern Bergen County awarded 27 grants, totaling $150,400, to nonprofit agencies experiencing increased need in the community from COVID-19. Founded in 1933, The Community Chest, a nonprofit, tax-exempt organization, supports local nonprofit organizations serving people in need in eastern Bergen County, New Jersey.

Grant Recipients

The 2021-2022 grant recipients are:

•Adler Aphasia Center

•Arts Horizons

•Bergen Family Center

•Bergen Performing Arts Center

•Bergen Volunteer Medical Initiative

•Boy Scouts

•Center for Food Action

•The Center for Hope and Safety

•Dr. John Grieco Scholarship Fund

•Encounters in Black Tradition

•Englewood Health

•Family Promise of Bergen County

•Flat Rock Brook Nature Center

•Girl Scouts

•Institute of Educational Achievement

•Jewish Family and Children's Services of Northern NJ

•Metropolitan Community Center

•Office of Concern Food Pantry

•Rotary Club of Englewood

•Salvation Army

•Spectrum for Living Development Corporation

•Tenafly Nature Center

•Vantage Health System

•Volunteer Center of Bergen County

•West Side Infant and Teen Parent Program

•Women's Rights Information Center

•YWCA of Northern New Jersey

The nonprofit agencies will use their grant awards to meet The Chest's priorities in these areas:

• Food insecurity for individuals and families;

•Mental health services for all populations, especially those strongly influenced by the pandemic;

•Services to support and facilitate re-employment;

•Programming to support COVID-19 learning loss, with a focus on the loss of social and emotional development, not academic support;

•Programming to assist students with applying to college; and

•Support The Chest’s Young Women’s Leadership Awards.

With the grant awards, residents in need in these communities will receive services: Alpine, Bergenfield, Closter, Cresskill, Demarest, Dumont, Englewood, Englewood Cliffs, Harrington Park, Haworth, Northvale, Norwood, Old Tappan, Rockleigh and Tenafly.

Requests Exceed Funds Available

With a mission to strengthen the community through partnership, leadership and philanthropy, The Community Chest of Eastern Bergen County awarded the grants to local nonprofits through a competitive process managed by the organization's Allocations Committee and approved by the Board of Managers. During the organization's 88th year, funds were raised through an annual campaign and fundraisers to address the escalating needs of residents in eastern Bergen County from COVID-19. This year, the nonprofit agencies' requests reached nearly $250,000. The Chest's grant awards will service approximately 50,000 people annually.

"During the COVID-19 pandemic, all of the nonprofit agencies experienced an increased demand for services, necessitating they change their method of delivery to accommodate clients' needs, while they sheltered in place at home. The Chest's grants support the increased demand for services for food, mental health, social and emotional development, re-employment, and other priority areas, as well as the agencies' new methods of delivering services to help them open their offices for their staff and clients to return safely," said Dr. Shelly Wimpfheimer, Executive Director, The Community Chest of Eastern Bergen County.

For further information about The Chest or to make a contribution, visit the organization's website or contact (201) 568-7474. Stay updated about the organization's activities on Facebook and Twitter.