MARSHALL - With COVID-19 metrics on the decline in Madison County, a Madison nonprofit organization formed specifically to assist local families during the pandemic now has the chance to look back on the impact it made since its formation in May 2020.
Madison Friendship Fund is a community COVID-19 response fund modeled after One Buncombe Fund, a collaboration consisting of local governments, including Buncombe County and the city of Asheville, as well as business leaders from the Asheville-Area Chamber of Commerce, Mountain BizWorks and the Land of Sky Regional Council.
Anna Tuziw is Madison Friendship Fund's chair.
"We were kind of a grassroots organization," Tuziw said. "The county commissioners came to (her husband and cofounder of FATE Foundation) Mike and I and said, 'We've got this idea, and we know there are a lot of people hurting in this community. We would like to have a way to help them if they're economically impacted by COVID.'"
According to Tuziw, the organization's committee first met May 14, 2020, and consisted of County Health Director Tammy Cody, Department of Social Services Director Connie Harris, as well as Rachel Potter, the county health department's maintenance assisted treatment program's coordinator and bridge counselor.
In addition to those four original committee members, Reverend Pat Hardy, a pastor at Walnut Presbyterian Church, was also involved with the program from its outset, Tuziw said.
Community members Ike Lassiter, O'Neal Shelton and Mary Kelly also devoted their time to the cause.
"The idea initially was to get the CARES funding that the county knew was coming," Tuziw said. "They thought they could jumpstart us with the CARES funds. So we went ahead and started putting ideas together and to get a meeting as a committee and develop our plan of how we would do this. Then, we found out the county could not give us the CARES funding. It had to be administered through the county, and not a private organization."
MFF had already accepted and approved two applications using their available donations as of June 2020, before learning that MFF couldn’t receive the funds. MFF had already created the framework to accept applications via the MFF website, or by phone through Madison County DSS, or by mail, and DSS had already stepped up to screen applicants, according to Tuziw.
That hiccup led MFF to jumpstart a fundraiser while the county distributed its CARES funding, which it expended in Dec. 2020.
Mountain Valleys Resource Conservation & Development, a nonprofit organization established in 1974 to develop, improve, and conserve natural resources and to provide employment and other economic opportunities to the people of an eight-county area of Western North Carolina, became the organization's fiduciary.
"All the payments went through them," Tuziw said. "They kept all the books for us. The audit trail, if we ever need it, will go through them. They cut the checks. It was a great relationship. They do this for some organizations, but they typically charge a higher rate, and they cut their rate way down for us, as well."
After the county depleted its COVID relief funds, MFF stepped up and became the leading resource for providing critical resources to Madison families in need, thanks in part due to a $3,000 donation from FATE Foundation, and a $1,000 gift from Walnut Presbyterian Church. The organization also received a foundation grant from The Community Foundation of Western North Carolina, and a second foundation grant from People in Need.
Through grants, business/nonprofit and private donations, as well as the collaboration with the county on disbursem*nt of CARES funding, MFF collected $103,630 — $45,510 in MFF revenue, and $58,120 in CARES Act funding — for local families.
"I think we had a pretty big impact," Tuziw said. "When I ran the statistics, we had helped over 500 individuals and 150 families, and 83% of money that came in to Madison Friendship Fund went directly to individuals. There was very little in expenses. Obviously, we're all volunteers, so there was nobody getting a salary here doing this. We didn't want to spend any money we didn't have to, that couldn't go directly to an individual."
A mass mailer containing information on the fund was issued to 10,000 Madison residents in Oct. 2020 also, Tuziw said.
According to statistics compiled by Potter and shared with the county commissioners during the board's March 8 meeting at the Madison County courthouse, the average disbursem*nt was $591.20.
Potter was proud of "not only the support MFF gave our residents but also the MFF team," she said.
"We were able to relieve some of our fellow resident’s unexpected financial burden due to COVID," Potter said. "We never expected the need for assistance to last as long as it did/has but we were all honored to step up and help."
"All payments were made directly to the vendor," Tuziw said. "So, if they had a rent payment due, we paid the landlord directly."
According to Tuziw, the team capped the maximum disbursem*nt at $1,200. MFF assisted with electric, mortgage, internet, car payments, homeowner's insurance, water, cellphone, heating/oil, medical bills, property taxes and building leases in addition to rent payments.
The MFF chair said the wide-ranging support from the county was crucial in the organization's quest to provide for families in need.
"We definitely got all kinds of supports from the county commissioners," Tuziw said. "We couldn't have begun to do this without the folks over at DSS, Connie Harris' staff. She assigned caseworkers who took all the applications and reviewed them."
This article originally appeared on Asheville Citizen Times: Madison Friendship Fund's COVID relief helped 500 people, 150 families
