UNION COUNTY — As the COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated the systemic issues of food insecurity, health care access and unemployment, more and more people have leaned on the services of nonprofit organizations to get them through the crisis.

Oregon Community Foundation, a statewide philanthropic network, has been doing its part to make sure those nonprofits can keep up their work, including providing support to nonprofits in Union County.

OCF had donated more than $1.4 million to nonprofits in Eastern Oregon as of mid-November, nearly $118,000 of which went to organizations in Union County. The organization has shifted its focus to helping Oregon’s nonprofits survive the upheaval of COVID-19 since the pandemic began.

“What we have funded since March is a whole lot different than our typical previous, what we called our Community Grants Process … and it was really responding to community needs,” said Cheryl Puddy, a program officer with OCF. “We threw that process out the window. … We knew we could not do that during the time of COVID, so we turned that whole program into what we called our Oregon Community Relief Fund.”

The largest donation in Union County went to Community Connection of Northeast Oregon, which operates the Northeast Oregon Regional Food Bank and provides services to the community from housing rehabilitation to public transit and senior services, among much more.

CCNO received a total of $78,000 from the Oregon Community Foundation, $68,500 of which came from their Oregon Community Relief Fund. The other $9,500 was allocated from the Foundation’s general fund.

Another benefactor of the OCF’s philanthropy in 2020 was the Northeast Oregon Network, La Grande, which works to reduce barriers to health care in Union, Wallowa, Baker, Umatilla and Malheur counties. NEON received $25,000 from the Oregon Community Recovery Fund.

The Eastern Oregon Film Festival received $5,000 from OCF’s Arts and Culture Recovery Program, while the Eastern Oregon Regional Arts Council (Art Center East, La Grande) received $5,450 from the same fund.

The fifth Union County nonprofit to receive funding was the Episcopal Diocese of Eastern Oregon, headquartered in Cove, which the OCF awarded $4,500.

Puddy said the pandemic has changed how Oregonians think about philanthropy, with more people choosing to leave money to the Oregon Community Foundation in their wills. She also urged people to grow their local community funds, like the Northeast Oregon Heritage Fund.

“It hasn’t grown a lot because it hasn’t had a lot of additional funding put toward it,” Puddy said, “but every year I meet with a Union County and a Wallowa and a Baker representative and we use it.”

Esther Badgley, widow of legendary Eastern Oregon University professor Ralph Badgley, started the NEO Heritage Fund in 1989 with an initial donation of $50,000. The fund serves Union, Baker and Wallowa counties.

$78,00 to Community Connection of Northeast Oregon, La Grande

$25,000 to Northeast Oregon Network, La Grande

$5,450 to Eastern Oregon Regional Arts Council (Art Center East, La Grande)

$5,000 to Eastern Oregon Film Festival, La Grande