Groundcover News: Community Support Urgently Needed
In this phase of physical distancing, Ann Arbor’s Groundcover News organization is working to get money to every single vendor and help them with specific bills that protect them from the elements and keep them safe.
Groundcover News, which exists to create opportunity and a voice for low-income people while taking action to end homelessness and poverty, was founded in April, 2010 as a means to empower low-income persons to make the transitions from homeless to housed, and from jobless to employed. Street newspapers like Groundcover News exist in cities all over the United States, as well as in more than 40 other countries, in an effort to raise awareness of the plight of homeless and combat the increase in poverty.
To help slow the spread of Covid-19 and keep vendors and customers safe, Groundcover News (GCN) recently suspended printing of the newspaper and is going digital beginning with the April 2020 edition. Subscriptions and support are needed now more than ever to help Groundcover’s active vendors, many of whom are homeless or housing insecure, and who have relied on newspaper sales for their incomes.
Many vendors will not receive the $1,200 stimulus payment because they have not filed a tax return. Helping them file for 2019 is now a priority. Please let us know if you have experience with the forms for self-employment. We could use a little advice. In the meantime, they are cash-strapped.
To help, donate online using the website Donate button or follow this link to PayPal
Donations can also be sent by check to Groundcover News, 423 W. 4th Ave., Ann Arbor 48104. Groundcover News is a 501(C)(3) non-profit organization. Donations are tax deductible to the full extent of the law.
All donations received between now and the end of the “Stay at Home” order will go toward meeting Groundcover vendors’ basic needs.
“Thanks to you who responded to our earlier donation request, we have already made shelter and utility payments for some vendors,” said Susan Beckett, publisher of Groundcover News. “We secured phones and phone plans for vendors who didn’t have them in order to maintain contact and help them stay connected to others who are important to them, as well as reach medical personnel, should that become necessary.
“We appreciate your consistent, continuing commitment over the past decade – more than words can express.”
While this is the new reality, Beckett said the organization is committed to its mission – to create opportunity and a voice for low-income people while taking action to end homelessness and poverty. You can stay informed through the Groundcover News Facebook page
GCN is also starting a Vendor-Volunteer buddy system. If you would like to buddy up and stay in contact with a vendor, respond to the email below.
Work Wanted
Some of our vendors are physically fit and eager to work at solitary tasks, especially outdoors. Have a problem area you want to turn into a garden? Have a garage that needs organizing? Floors that need stripping and waxing? We have vendors with experience in all of these who would love to work for you at reasonable rates.
Email contact@groundcovernews.org with your potential project and we will coordinate with you on finding someone to do that job.
Groundcover News is profoundly grateful to you!
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