Greater Houston COVID 19 recovery fund launched

United Way teams up with Greater Houston Community Foundation

HOUSTON – Two of the most visible Houston philanthropic organizations have teamed up to raise money to help those impacted by COVID 19. Called the Greater Houston COVID 19 Recovery Fund, it is being spearheaded by the United Way of Greater Houston and the Greater Houston Community Foundation.

Anna Babin is the CEO of the United Way of Greater Houston and says it’s the perfect match of organizations well suited for this kind of crisis and recovery. “

We both had experience in Hurricane Harvey together and we think it’s just important to stand together and be of one voice to raise the funds to help our community in need,” she said.”

Babin is a guest this week on Houston Newsmakers with Khambrel Marshall along with Diana Zarzuelo, the Senior Director for Community Philanthropy of the Greater Houston Community Foundation. Zarzuelo says even with the two trillion dollar stimulus package passed by Congress, the COVID 19 Recovery Fund will support those who will likely be overlooked. “We’re really focused on the most vulnerable families and communities,” she said. “Those that are least likely to benefit from public assistance. We know we need to use our philanthropic dollars strategically and maximize the impact of those.” The link to find out more about the Greater Houston COVID 19 Recovery Fund is: https://www.greaterhoustonrecovery.org/

Nonprofit offers online mental health help

Dawn Lawless co-founded the non-profit organization Counseling Connections as a way to offer mental health help to the many people who need it. Now that coronavirus has changed our way of life, those mental health needs have rapidly increased, putting the telehealth programs of the organization on the front lines.

"This situation is such an unplanned event for all of us and so when we’re dealing with unplanned events we have to really be thinking about how are we thinking through the process and what are we feeling,” she said.

Lawless provides advice on what signs of stress to look for, how to cope and when to know professional help might be necessary

Cyber-crime concerns increase as isolation increases online activity

Crime Stoppers of Houston is taking its fight against online crimes directly to parents and students. CEO Rania Mankarious says heightened online participation during coronavirus related forced isolation brings increased threats for cyber-crimes. Mankarious says they have added a robust way for concerned parents and students to spend time on the internet safely.

"We do live webinars via zoom. We have a calendar on our website Crime-Stoppers.org, you can do to it and see what classes we have coming up for next week. We’re doing private sessions through zoom but we’re also doing a lot of digital shorts, a lot of writing a lot of blogs, social media and much more.

What you need to know about the Coronavirus : http://bit.ly/2IMogCs

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