The COVID-19 pandemic presented many challenges to the healthcare community and the patients they serve in Georgia. In response, the Alliance paused the second cycle of our Community Health Grant program to launch the Immediate Needs Grants program in March to help address some of the unique challenges Georgia’s communities faced due to the Coronavirus outbreak.
With the knowledge that family physicians are on the front lines of public health issues affecting our communities, GHFA designed the Immediate Needs Grant program to provide GAFP members and their affiliated community organizations up to $1,000 to support critical health needs for our most fragile citizens and patients. Since late March, we have awarded $36,000 to projects including prescription assistance for homebound senior citizens, lunch delivery for vulnerable children who no longer have access to school meals, PPE for charitable care clinics, childcare services for first responders and sanitizer distribution for Atlanta’s large homeless community to name a few.
In late May, GHFA received word from the AAFP Foundation that the Immediate Needs Grant Program was selected as the AAFP Foundation Outstanding Program of the Year! The GHFA Board is humbled to be recognized for our collective effort to help our patients and communities maintain health and hope during these uncertain times.
To continue providing this critical support to our communities, we need your help! GHFA has established a COVID-19 relief fund, and we have already awarded $36,000 in funds to support patients all over the state. We created a social media campaign using the Fundly platform and set a goal of $10,000 to allow us to award more Immediate Needs Grants. Any amount you can give towards our COVID-19 relief fund is of course appreciated and will make an immediate impact on the lives of the people in our communities, no amount is too small. You can follow this link to give directly to our online campaign: https://fundly.com/ghfa-covid-19-immediate-needs-grants-fund. All gifts will have an immediate impact on our mission as we work to meet the healthcare needs of our community during these unprecedented times.
Immediate Needs Grant Applications are still available online at www.georgiahealthyfamilyalliance.org and will be accepted as long as funds are available.
Please reach out to Kara Sinkule at ksinkule@gafp.org or by calling (404) 321-7445 with questions or for more information.