Don’t let COVID-19 crisis stop giving

Governments from the federal to the local level are working to help ensure populations remain healthy by imposing restrictions on public gatherings and congregating in groups of more than 10. These restrictions are likely to be the tip of the iceberg as public health officials deal with this threat with more urban areas going to curfews and shelter-in-place orders.

At the local level, COVID-19 has resulted in the cancellation of numerous events and churches are taking steps to protect their congregations with general dispensations from religious obligations to canceling attendance at services. While churches and other religious organizations have an important mission to spread God’s message, they also live in the real world where bills have to be paid and employees need paychecks. Reduced attendance at services results in a reduction of money in the collection plate. This is especially troublesome during the lenten and Easter seasons when church attendance is normally higher than at other times of the year. Judging by the pace of the pandemic in other parts of the world, it is unlikely things will return to normal by Easter Sunday, which will leave many churches with gaping holes in their budgets at the same time they are needing to provide additional services to their members.

While churches are feeling an economic pinch, so are nonprofit organizations within our communities that are being forced to cancel established fundraising events. The fundraisers allow them to fulfill their missions of service in the community. As the saying goes, no money, no mission.

It is easy to get tunnel-vision and focus on simply making it through each day with your family or household. It is in times such as these that people must also remember their communities. People are still hungry and in need in our communities. Animals in the shelters must continue to be fed and litter boxes changed. People in abusive relationships must have a place to turn to for help. In times of stress there is an even greater need for these services as other resources diminish.

During this period of uncertainty, don’t forget the many needs that continue to exist in our communities, we are all in this together.