Four nonprofit organizations received a check Friday after the District Attorney’s office received a $2 million settlement from a statewide illegal gambling case.
District Attorney, Meg Heap, hopes this month helps them recover from the COVID-19 pandemic.
“When I heard that I had received $2 million, I knew that they’ve struggled [with] fundraising,” Heap said. “We love to see the guidelines are very specific so that I could give this money to our victim service providers.”
The four agencies receiving the checks are:
- SAFE Shelter
- Savannah Rape Crisis Center
- Savannah Child Advocacy Center
- Chatham County Family Justice Center
All four agencies are on the front line of working with victims of crime.
Executive Director of the Child Advocacy Center, Rosemary Robinson, says they’re still helping victims despite the pandemic.
“We still see the child molestation we still see the sexual stop of children we still see the physical abuse of children,” Robinson said.
Each of the non-profits thought they were going to receive a check for $300,000, but the amount was increased to $500,000.
With fundraisers being canceled and donations from the public being down, it’s been hard to make ends meet, according to SAFE Shelter’s Executive Director, Cheryl Branch.
“We were going to go into 2021 with $300,000 in debt because we couldn’t have our gala,” Branch said.
