CHARLOTTE, N.C., Sept. 06, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- More than 900 families facing extraordinary personal, financial, and psychological losses from COVID-19 found support and hope from the Brave of Heart Fund during the pandemic. To date, the Fund has distributed more than $52 million in grants and scholarships to families of healthcare workers who lost their lives serving on the frontlines of the pandemic. The grants provided psychological and financial aid to keep families in their homes, enable financial stability after losing a primary income provider, pay for funeral expenses, counseling and more.
“Unlike 911 and other tragic events, sharp and immediate relief was not readily available for the bereaved families of frontline workers fighting the COVID-19 crisis. It was crucial that the Brave of Heart Fund be formed to provide necessary financial and psychological aid to healthcare employees and their families,” said Holly Welch Stubbing, CEO and President of E4E Relief, which administered the Brave of Heart Fund. “Losing a parent, child, sibling, or spouse can result in trauma that changes the trajectory of lives, putting those family members at risk of financial debt, severe anxiety or depression, post-traumatic stress and even poor educational outcomes. Caring for the families of those who protected us is and will continue to be our priority as we work to address the devastating impacts the pandemic continues to have in the healthcare community.”
Within two years, The Brave of Heart Fund awarded more than $31 million in grants to 909 individuals in 44 states.
The average grant amount was $24,000, and grants were used to pay for funeral expenses, housing expenses, food, transportation, and essential utilities; daycare, childcare and educational expenses; outstanding medical expenses for the deceased and counseling.
For over a third of its grantee families, Brave of Heart funding was the only financial support they received after losing a loved one. More than two-thirds of grantees used funds to pay their rent or mortgage so that they could stay in their homes.
Among the families of the grantees, close to 80 percent of healthcare workers and volunteers lost to COVID-19 were the sole or primary household earners.
Fourteen different healthcare professional and volunteer roles, from nurses to doctors and custodians, were represented among the deceased.
“Brave of Heart Fund saved my children and me from bankruptcy. We could not have made it without the help,” said a Richmond, K.Y, Brave of Heart grantee. “While we’re so appreciative of the help we received from friends, it would not have lasted even a month to cover bills and expenses. We would have been homeless. We also would not have been able to mourn properly from constantly worrying about where our next meal was coming from.”
The Fund continues to honor healthcare workers' hard work and sacrifice via non-competitive scholarship funding that ensures academic scholarships for their relatives. Brave of Heart is also supporting efforts across the U.S. to promote the emotional well-being of healthcare workers. Grants to partner organizations help prepare employees for challenges created or intensified by COVID-19 through direct counseling, workplace well-being and development of coping skills.
About The Brave of Heart Fund
In partnership with the New York Life and Cigna Foundations, the Brave of Heart Fund was established in early 2020 to provide charitable grants and emotional support services to families of the frontline healthcare workers, volunteers, and support staff whose lives were lost in the fight against COVID-19. To learn more about the Brave of Heart Fund, please visit: https://employeerelieffund.org/brave-of-heart-fund/.
About E4E Relief
For two decades, E4E Relief has delivered expert counsel and an objective, streamlined process for companies to provide grant awards to employees during times of unanticipated hardship and disaster. When the COVID-19 pandemic created a healthcare crisis never seen nor experienced in our lifetimes, E4E Relief steered the efforts to provide charitable relief to the healthcare community that matched the size and significance of this event. To learn more about how E4E Relief partners with organizations to support employees when they need it most, please visit: https://employeerelieffund.org.
Contact: Hannah Whitson
hannah@piper-communications.com • 423-408-4203
