Richard A. Henson Foundation donates $250K to local nonprofits

SALISBURY, Md. – The Richard A. Henson foundation announced on Monday that it’s donating a quarter of a million dollars to help nonprofit COVID-19 relief funds on the Shore.

Half of the donation is going to the Community Foundation of the Eastern Shore and the other half to the United Way of the Lower Eastern Shore. The money will be put into the organizations’ COVID-19 relief funds. The Henson Foundation tells 47 ABC they want to make sure nonprofit services continue as the demand for their resources increase.

“In this time, the need for people who just need basic support items. It’s food, it’s maybe some financial assistance and a lot of the nonprofits provide that. But it’s in that area of health and wellness I think that they’ll focus their efforts,” says Steve Farrow, Chairman of the Board of Trustees for the Richard A. Henson Foundation.

The Community Foundation and United Way will be distributing the money in their relief funds to nonprofits across the Eastern Shore.

“Through times of great hardship, come acts of great good. Gifts to the community, like that which the Henson Foundation has made, bring hope and encouragement to many,” says Erica Joseph, President of CFES. “The unwavering resolution to help one another is woven deep into the fiber of the Lower Shore, and it is through this strength that we will not only rebuild, but we will grow and triumph together.”

“Many local nonprofits will face hardship as a result of the pandemic. Our collective goal is to quickly provide relief to these organizations so that they may adapt and continue providing vital services to our community,” says Pam Gregory, President and CEO of UWLES. “Meeting the needs of those most vulnerable in our region by making grants available to our partners is paramount.”

The Henson Foundation tells 47 ABC, they hope their donation inspires others to do the same.

To learn more, apply, or give visit CFES.org/covid19 or UWLES.org/COVID19.