Music therapy class at the Chris Rose Therapy Centre for Autism (Image Credit: CFJC Today)

By Chad Klassen

KAMLOOPS CHARITIES

United Way urging community support as it tries to lift up struggling charities during pandemic

Sep 16, 2020 | 4:32 PM

KAMLOOPS — The COVID-19 has put a strain on many charities in the city, and the fear is the fiscal landscape will only get worse, putting some non-profits at risk of closing their doors. The United Way is working to ensure it doesn’t happen.

“Our fear is definitely, can non-profits survive this time, in these great challenges? Even to get a little bit further into the weeds, can they keep critical programs running? What are they going to need to cut during this time?” noted interim executive director of the Thompson-Nicola-Cariboo United Way Katie Neustaeter.

At the Chris Rose Therapy Centre for Autism, some of its programs are under threat with a $30,000 shortfall in funding.

“Funding is always a challenge with non-profits, but COVID becomes the unknown,” noted executive director of the Chris Rose Therapy Centre for Autism Wanda Eddy. “We had many events that were cancelled this year. Going forward, we’re not sure we can even do some of those events, so it’s re-thinking what that looks like.”

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The centre now has to find creative way to fill the gap left behind by the pandemic, making an already challenging fundraiser environment even more so. If it can’t, the centre will have to make some tough decisions.

“I hate to think about what that might look like, whether it might mean we’d have to cut a few programs for a short period of time, or perhaps a different fee structure for families or something like that,” said Eddie.

The Kamloops Sexual Assault Counselling Centre hasn’t experience a drop in funding. However, agency coordinator Alix Dolson says the demand for services during the pandemic, with an increase in violence, has skyrocketed. The provincial funding it receives is no longer covering the need as the waitlist grows.

“It’s wonderful to have some emergency, temporary funding, but in terms of long-term, continued funding for this increase, this uptick in services, that’s where we’re a little concerned because we know that this isn’t going to be a two-week thing or a two-month thing,” noted Dolson. “We’re going to be in this for a while and we’re going to be feeling the consequences of this for a very long time.”

Any monetary donations to the United Way would help charities like the sexual assault centre pour more resources into helping people combat violence. Neustaeter says while the United Way has received volunteer commitments from dedicated community members, it’s the financial commitments that are critical during this time.

“All of the projections say that donorship will decrease over the next year,” she said. “We’ve seen a lot of generosity through the federal government. We all know that it’s indefinitely sustainable, so who steps in and fills that gap? The answer is, individuals. The answer is, businesses who want to do more.”