If ever there was a time to come together as a community, it’s during the unprecedented health and economic crisis due to the COVID-19 coronavirus.
And once again, Rabun County has shown the way.
A bold gesture by a group of Lake Burton families to raise much-needed funds for the Food Bank of Northeast Georgia last week included a challenge to the community.
They agreed to pool their resources and match contributions to the Food Bank of up to $50,000, with a deadline of April 10 for the challenge to expire.
At the Food Bank center in Clayton, an average of 2,500 families were being served prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. Since the health crisis began, the number of families and individuals in need of food assistance has swelled to approximately three times that number.
One way to help the greatest number of people during this emergency is to help make sure families are able to put food on the table during this time of economic uncertainty.
Under the best of circumstances, this small group of Lake Burton residents—who do not want credit, praise or even for their names to be made public—figured they might be able to raise as much as $100,000 for the beleaguered community resource.
A blessing and a Godsend, to be sure.
So, they issued their challenge through the newspaper and social media, crossed their fingers, and hoped they might get close to their goal.
They didn’t just make it. They blew it out of the water.
As of Monday afternoon, more than 450 people had responded to the Organizers of Lake Burton COVID Response Challenge with donations benefitting their beloved mountain neighbors.
In addition, a separate group, The Lake Burton Civic Association Foundation and its membership, contributed almost $50,000 to this cause.
At last tally, the amount of money raised was $210,000, more than twice the goal.
That is beyond incredible.
The organizers saw their original investment of $50,000 yield more than three times that amount in community donations, which were made in amounts great and small.
When the COVID-19 crisis first began, there was an unfortunate revival of the tired, old “us-vs-them” sentiment in some social media postings.
The fact is, we are, and continue to be, one community, united in our love for Rabun County and its people. It doesn’t matter what part of the county you call home, where you were born or what your economic status might be.
Of course, those are just words on paper, aren’t they? As the old saying goes, the proof of the pudding is in the eating. And for further proof we are one caring community. We can’t think of 210,000 better reasons.
As someone once said, it’s amazing what we can accomplish when no one cares who gets the credit.
But a small group of Lake Burton families deserve recognition for their selfless act on behalf of this community they call home, as do the more than 400 groups and individuals who accepted the challenge.
We’ve never been prouder of Rabun County.