The United Way of the Wabash Valley Secures $1.1 Million Economic Relief Initiative Grant
Terre Haute – The United Way of the Wabash Valley announced today that it has been approved to
receive a $1,100,000 COVID-19 Economic Relief Initiative Grant, made possible through a partnership
between Lilly Endowment, Inc. and Indiana United Ways, the state professional association of which
United Way of the Wabash Valley (UWWV) is a member. These special funds will be used to further
enhance the work already underway with the local Wabash Valley COVID-19 Emergency Relief Fund.
The local fund was launched March 23 by a joint partnership between UWWV and the Wabash Valley
Community Foundation. Its purpose is to assist service provider organizations helping individuals and
families with immediate COVID-19-related financial needs not covered by government programs or
other traditional relief sources.
“For the last few years, United Way of the Wabash Valley has been focused on convening and
coordinating efforts to assist struggling working families. Even before this crisis, we knew that 44% of
households in our community were not able to make ends meet,” said Jameel Ahmed, Board President
for UWWV. “Our local relief fund has already demonstrated how we can achieve more by all working
together. Now, thanks to this generous support from the Lilly Endowment, our fund is strongly
positioned to use all of our collective strengths to aid our recovery from the impacts of COVID-19.”
The COVID-19 Economic Relief Initiative Grant calls for United Ways who receive funding to leverage
partnerships and relationships to better meet COVID-related essential and basic needs and to address
other COVID-19 critical issues as they emerge.
Richard Payonk, United Way Executive Director, explained how UWWV plans to invest the grant funds
using a three-tiered approach. “This tremendous gift does not just belong to United Way; these are
community funds and we will work collaboratively with the community to make wise investments. The
first tier of this funding will allow us to continue the Wabash Valley COVID-19 Emergency Relief Fund
short term grants, which have already provided assistance totaling nearly $175,000 to 39 local
organizations.”
“Because of this generous grant, we can now also launch a second tier of investments. We will continue
working with our partners at the Wabash Valley Community Foundation, and also select a Guide Team
of key stakeholders who will help us identify the best grant investments for our community over the
next 3-6 months.” Payonk says they envision this second tier of investments to be targeted grants from
the local fund on the order of $75K to $100K per initiative. These larger investments may be by invite-only to pre-identified organizations with the demonstrated capacity to complete the work needed. A third tier of investment of the $1.1MM Economic Relief Initiative Grant will be held for long-term future needs created by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Danielle Isbell, Resource Development Director for UWWV hopes this new grant inspires more
businesses and individuals to contribute to the local relief fund. “We’ve been given a fantastic gift, and
we are very grateful. Still, it is important to keep in perspective the need that exists. Before this
pandemic, more than 34,000 households in our 6 counties lived paycheck to paycheck, and for many,
those paychecks have stopped. $1.1 million sounds like enough, but if you do the math, it would
provide only about $32 to each struggling family. The Lilly Endowment has made our work more
impactful, but even with them, we are not yet out of the woods, and we still need our community’s
support.”
UWWV will provide more details on the expanded investments from the Wabash Valley COVID-19
Emergency Relief Fund in the weeks ahead. Initial short-term grants remain available through the local
fund. Those organizations wanting to apply can request up to a maximum of $5,000. Details on how to
apply are available at uwwv.org/covid.
If community members are interested in donating to the fund, please visit uwwv.org/covid or
wvcf.org/covid. Corporate partners and foundations seeking to be partners in the fund can reach out to
Danielle Isbell at disbell@uwwv.org or Beth Tevlin at beth@wvcf.org.
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United Way of the Wabash Valley is an organization looking to go beyond temporary fixes to create
lasting change in our communities throughout our six-county region. By bringing together volunteers,
companies, and organizations focused on innovative solutions, we impact thousands of lives every year
right here in the Wabash Valley. Our new bold goal is to move 10,000 local families out of financial
struggles. For more information, please visit, www.uwwv.org.
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Lilly Endowment Inc., is a private philanthropic foundation supporting the causes of religion, education
and community development focusing its work in Indianapolis and the State of Indiana. For more
information, contact Judith Cebula, Communications Director at communications@lei.org.
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Indiana United Ways is the state association for United Ways in Indiana that supports thriving United
Ways through capacity building, shared services, and partnering. For more information, contact
Maureen Noe, President & CEO at Maureen.noe@iuw.org.
