(Gettysburg, PA: 6/19/2020) The Adams County Community Foundation has announced receipt of a gift of $4,000 from the Dwight D. Eisenhower Society to the COVID-19 Relief Recovery Fund. Individual members of the Eisenhower Society have contributed an additional $4,000.
The Community Foundation is tracking the shifting needs created by the pandemic and related economic downturn in order to deploy grants from the Fund to provide operating and program support to a broad range of nonprofits in Adams County. The Community Foundation recently announced its first round of grant awards from the COVID-19 Fund, totaling $72,687 to 10 organizations.
The COVID-19 Fund was seeded with $100,000 from the Community Foundation’s unrestricted endowment and a $50,000 gift from The Forward Fund. Contributions from individuals and service organizations like the Eisenhower Society expand the amount available for grants.
Eisenhower Society Vice-Chair Dr. Walton Jones said that the idea of supporting the COVID-19 Relief & Recovery Fund, though it is outside the historical mission of the Society, resonated with the Society’s board because it echoed Eisenhower’s experience during the 1918 Spanish Flu pandemic. “The Spanish Flu killed hundreds of soldiers at Camp Colt, where Eisenhower, then 27 years old, was commander. The G.A.R. building downtown was converted into a temporary morgue for these soldiers, where their bodies were prepared for transport to their hometowns across the country. Ike felt the losses deeply and took responsibility for personally conducting the bodies first to the G.A.R. building and then to the train station for their journey home.”
In an open letter published October 12, 1918 in the Star & Sentinel, Eisenhower thanked the citizens of Gettysburg. “On behalf of the officers and men of Camp Colt, as well as their relatives and friends, I wish to express to you our sincere appreciation of you timely assistance during the recent, regrettable epidemic. It is gratifying to note the spirit of co-operation which has prevailed everywhere, and I am sure your kindness and sympathy will ever remain a bright spot in the memories of those who have suffered bereavement.”
Eisenhower described the Spanish Flu as an invisible enemy, one you couldn’t see, feel, touch, or strategize against. Jones said, “102 years later we thought that contributing to this Fund at the Community Foundation would be a fitting way to honor Ike’s feelings of responsibility and compassion. We are demonstrating, too, that the citizens of Gettysburg of 2020 equal those of 1918 in kindness and sympathy.”
About the COVID-19 Relief & Recovery Fund
More information about the COVID-19 Relief & Recovery Fund is available on the website of the Adams County Community Foundation at adamscountycf.org. Secure online donations may be made via the Donate Now button, selecting the COVID-19 Fund. Guidelines and deadlines for applying for a grant from the COVID-19 Fund are on the Grants and Scholarships page. For a list of grants awarded, visit the Newsroom.
About the Adams County Community Foundation
The Adams County Community Foundation wascreated to promote and facilitate charitable giving and to build a permanent civic endowment for Adams County. In addition to charitable funds supporting grants focused on improving the quality of life in Adams County, the Community Foundation also provides a home for charitable funds created by donors which may make distributions anywhere in Pennsylvania or across the country.
