Editor’s note: As of Thursday morning, the following were still scheduled.

Willmar Area Response Fund

WILLMAR — The Willmar Area Response Fund was established to help support local relief efforts from the COVID-19 pandemic, which includes wide-scale initiatives to help meet critical basic needs as well as sustaining local organizations providing critical services through recovery.

Recent donations include $25,000 from Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota Foundation and $10,000 from Northern Factory Sales, Inc. along with the support of other individuals.

The fund is administered by the Willmar Area Community Foundation which recently granted $72,000 as follows:

Woodland Centers, $5,000, for telehealth access funds for clients in Kandiyohi County that cannot sustain mental health or substance use recovery programming and/or therapeutic services due to financial limitations.

Kandiyohi County Food Shelf, $5,000, to support food security.

Family Promise, $5,000, to provide continuity of shelter, food and basic needs for the Family Promise of Kandiyohi County Day Center, as well as to support remote monitoring for clients while church partners are unable to host and feed clients.

Community Basics Inc., $5,000, to support food security.

Lutheran Social Services, $5,000, to provide emergency backup meals within the meals programming for seniors in the New London-Spicer and rural area.

Goodwill-Easter Seals Minnesota of Willmar, $3,000, to support low-income and disabled Goodwill case management clients with basic need services.

Kandiyohi County Area Family YMCA, $20,000, to preserve services of child care, birth to 12, for essential workers, children’s food security via At Risk Food Program and older adult connections and providing individual senior needs.

United Community Action Partnership, $15,000, to support emergent housing needs, utility emergencies, food insecurity and emergency medical needs for clients.

West Central Industries, $5,000, to support expansion of Meals on Wheels services to senior citizens and vulnerable at home adults.

Kandiyohi County and city of Willmar EDC, $5,000, for stabilization funds to in-home child care providers across Kandiyohi County.

Atwater Help for Seniors, $4,000, for meals and outreach supports to isolated senior citizens in the Atwater area.

For more information on applying to the Willmar Area Response Fund, visit www.communitygiving.org/grants and select “Willmar Area Response Fund Grants”. To make a contribution to the fund, visit www.communitygiving.org/donate/willmar-area-response-fund .

WILLMAR — Advocacy & Inclusion Matter annual Rose Sale pickup will be from noon to 5 p.m. Thursday, May 28, at the Kandi Mall. If there are any questions, call AIM at 320-231-1777 or send an email to contact@aimwcm.org .

COVID-19

Minnesota Department of Veterans Affairs is accepting applications from Minnesota veterans who have been financially impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. The department will be awarding one-time financial relief grants in the amount of $1,000.

Eligible applicants must be: A veteran as defined by Minnesota Statute 197.447, or the surviving spouse (who has not remarried) of a deceased veteran, a Minnesota resident, and have been negatively financial impacted by COVID-19.

Funding is available for both Disaster Relief Grants and Special Needs Grants. Both grant applications may be submitted through your county Veterans Service Office. The Disaster Relief Grant may also be submitted directly online by a veteran or surviving spouse. For more information or to apply, visit MinnesotaVeteran.org/COVIDRelief . To contact your local County Veterans Service Officer, visit MACVSO.org .

Rice Health Foundation and Redwood Hospital Foundation have established a COVID-19 Emergency Fund to receive monetary donations for Carris Health locations. Gifts to this fund will be used to purchase COVID-19 supplies and medical equipment, provide meals for staff who remain on campus to provide care and meet other high-priority needs identified to support the direct care of COVID-19 patients and others in our community.

Monetary gifts can be given online to the COVID-19 Emergency Fund (Carris Health – Rice Memorial Hospital or Carris Health – Redwood Hospital) or mail checks designated for COVID-19 to Rice Health Foundation, 301 Becker Ave. S.W., Willmar, MN 56201 or Redwood Hospital Foundation, 100 Fallwood Rd., Redwood Falls, MN 56283.

Individual county emergency operations centers are coordinating all non-monetary donations for CentraCare and Carris Health facilities. Do not deliver donations to local hospitals or care facilities. To donate supplies in Kandiyohi County, call 320-214-6780 (collecting homemade PPEs as well as other supplies) and in Redwood County call 507-637-4035 (collecting new, manufactured supplies only – no homemade PPEs).

Willmar Area Community Foundation, in partnership with CommunityGiving, has received a grant of $22,900 through the Minnesota Disaster Recovery Fund for coronavirus relief. This funding, along with contributions to the Willmar Area Response Fund, will be used to support local relief efforts from the COVID-19 pandemic which will include wide-scale initiatives to help meet critical basic needs as well as sustaining local organizations providing critical services through recovery. The Willmar Area Response Fund had raised $77,415 as of April 1.

Grant opportunities through the Willmar Area Response Fund are now available. Eligible organizations must be a 501(c)3 nonprofit, school or governmental entity that serves Kandiyohi County. Initially, the fund will focus resources toward efforts focused on helping meet basic needs for area residents and critical services. For additional information, visit https://www.communitygiving.org/grant/willmar-area-response-fund-grants/37 .

CenterPoint Energy announced through its foundation the company will contribute $1.5 million to nonprofit organizations, agencies and causes that are committed to supporting those who have been disproportionately impacted by COVID-19. CenterPoint Energy’s COVID-19 Relief Fund will include $1 million in direct contributions, as well as up to $500,000 in matching gifts for employees’ contributions to qualifying 501(c)3 organizations. It is Minnesota’s largest natural gas utility, serving more than 860,000 residential and business customers. Organizations that are interested in applying for a CenterPoint Energy COVID-19 Relief Fund grant should visit www.centerpointenergy.com/cnpgives . CenterPoint Energy continues to provide additional support to customers regarding their utility service. As previously announced, the company will support customers who may need payment assistance, arrangements or extensions during the COVID-19 crisis. In addition, the company has temporarily suspended natural gas service disconnections for nonpayment.