May 28, 2020 4 min read

This pandemic has put all of us in the same storm.

It also is clear that we are not all in the same boat. Many of our fellow citizens are suffering through no fault of their own. Some have lost jobs, others have jobs requiring longer hours and are working in more difficult situations.

The closings of schools and day-care centers have made caring for children more difficult. The fact that the virus attacks our elderly and those with certain medical conditions has forced us to provide new standards of care.

The burden placed on our support services has never been greater. With this in mind, my fellow State Farm agents Megan Chicone and Britney Hollick have organized the “Here to Help Project.”

Early in this crisis, the Observer-Reporter’s parent company, Ogden Newspapers Inc., established a $1 million fund to help local businesses get back to full strength by subsidizing local marketing efforts through matching advertising dollars. When Britney, Megan and I discussed this generous opportunity, we decided that we would use our matching advertising dollars to create a six-week campaign to support local charities.

We contacted Carol DeAngelo, the O-R’s marketing director, and Natalie Gloady, its digital marketing specialist, about our idea and, with their support, our campaign began.

We decided to begin our fundraising on Mothers Day and end it on Fathers Day. We reached out to the Washington County Community Foundation for its expertise in fundraising and technical support. The next issue was choosing charities.

We chose six charities, featuring one each week of our campaign. We tried to choose charities that provided services from childbirth to elderly care. We reached out to each charity, explained our plan and asked each to share the impact this pandemic has had on it.

This was an eye opener to us and reinforced with us the need to raise money now to support their efforts. It also inspired us to match the first $15,000 in contributions.

The charities we decided to support are: Genesis of Pittsburgh; LeMoyne Community Center; Domestic Violence Services of Southwestern PA; Greater Washington County Food Bank; Washington Health System; and Presbyterian Senior Care.

If you have been following my columns, you may be wondering what this has to do with your financial well-being. The financial well-being of others is essential to having a stable society, and the desire to help others is within all of us. The need may never be greater.

I also want to point out, again, that we are not all in the same boat. The government has issued stimulus checks. Many people will need this money to survive.

Others have not been impacted by this crisis. Their retirement income or earned income has not changed. This is the group of people I want to reach out to today. If you have received your $1,200, or $2,400 per couple, please consider giving to “Here to Help Project.” Remember, we will match the first $15,000.

To donate, mail a check payable to: Washington County Community Foundation, 1253 Route 519, P.O. Box 308, Eighty Four, Pa 15330. In the memo line, put: “Here to Help Project” and which organizations you want the money to go to. You also can visit www.WCCF.net/for-donors/here-to-help-project.

On behalf of the charities, and the families and individuals they support, Megan Chicone, Britney Hollick and I thank you.

Bob Hollick is a State Farm Insurance agent based in Washington. His column now will appear every other Thursday in the Observer- Reporter.

To submit columns on financial planning, investing or business-related matters, email Rick Shrum at rshrum@observer-reporter.com.