PD Editorial: Nonprofits need our help to meet COVID challenge

In any other year, thousands of Sonoma County residents would be busy collecting pledges for one of the North Bay's biggest annual charity fundraisers.

The Human Race, a colorful walk and run through Howarth and Spring Lake parks, typically attracts about 5,000 participants, more than any other Human Race in the country.

There's a party atmosphere, and there's reason to celebrate: the event typically generates about $350,000 for numerous local nonprofit groups and service organizations.

Sunday was to be the 39th annual Human Race. It was, like so many other spring events, canceled because of the coronavirus outbreak.

In the past month, events planned for the Redwood Empire Food Bank, the Hanna Boys Center, YWCA Sonoma County and 10,000 Degrees, among others, collided with stay-at-home orders. In May, the Human Race was supposed to be followed by events for the Council on Aging, the American Heart Association and the Ceres Project, with Becoming Independent, the Farm Bureau and others in June.

There are more than 3,800 ?nonprofit organizations registered in Sonoma County. They educate children, assist the homeless and elderly, put food on the table for needy families, offer legal services and job training, build affordable housing and provide other essential community services.

With unemployment soaring to levels not seen since the Great Depression, more people than ever need help. And these organizations need help to survive the pandemic, too.

Some, like early childhood education programs and adult daycare centers, have had to close, but they still have overhead expenses to meet if they're going to start up again when the crisis passes. The need isn't going away.

Other organizations are trying to cope with soaring demand. The Redwood Empire Food Bank, which typically assists 82,000 people annually, saw a 50% increase during the first month of the pandemic. Food For Thought, which provides healthy meals for people with serious illnesses, has seen “a huge surge of calls for our services - more than we've had in the history of our agency,” Executive Director Ron Karp told Staff Writer Austin Murphy.

Food isn't the only thing in short supply. Blood banks are looking for donors, too. And charitable organizations of practically every stripe need cash to keep their programs going.

Pepsi just donated $3 million to Sonoma County chef Guy Fieri's Restaurant Employee Relief Fund. Most people can't write seven-figure checks, but small donations help, too.

Some of our readers have written letters to the editor saying they didn't need the $1,200 relief checks provided by the federal government. The money would be welcomed by local nonprofits trying to maintain services during the pandemic.

We can't name them all here, but a list of the 100 largest nonprofit organizations in Sonoma County will accompany this editorial at pressdemocrat.com/opinion. Readers are invited to recommend other organizations in the comment section below this editorial on our website.

Even if stay-at-home rules are relaxed in the weeks to come, big gatherings are likely to remain on hold at least through the summer. So if you can help, please do.

You can send a letter to the editor at letters@pressdemocrat.com.