Since we announced our urgent response to the coronavirus pandemic and creation of the COVID-19 Community Emergency Response and Recovery Fund, the clinics and programs we support across the country have been mobilizing to respond to the increasing needs of children and families already facing barriers to health and wellness.

And on April 2, we were thrilled to announce the foundational corporate investor to our emergency response: the PepsiCo Foundation, which has invested an initial $2 million to support CHF and 21 communities across the country! This generous funding will allow us to send grants of up to $150,000 to our partners, greatly increasing screening and testing capacity, and providing front-line healthcare workers with the resources and tools they need to fight this pandemic.

This incredible investment strengthens our ability to respond to the most urgent medical needs of children and families in resource-limited communities across the country. But more is still needed to meet our $5 million goal and ensure the children and families most vulnerable to the devastating impacts of this crisis are not forgotten. Dennis Walto, CHF CEO, said “In our long history of responding to the health needs of resource-limited communities impacted by disasters, our response to COVID-19 is bigger than anything we’ve undertaken. We are deeply grateful to the PepsiCo Foundation for making sure that frontline health workers have the resources they need to deliver lifesaving support to families most vulnerable to this crisis, now and in its aftermath.”

Funds from PepsiCo will go beyond increased screening and testing and will allow CHF the ability to:

• Provide 32,000 N95 protective masks to the programs we fund across the country to ensure our Frontline Health Workers are adequately protected and able to care for patients;
• Secure equipment that will enable clinics to continue caring for families through telehealth technology;
• Support children and families who are facing tremendous economic challenges, lost learning, and overall insecurity due to this crisis.