In late March, as the COVID-19 pandemic brought the world to a standstill, the Making a Difference Foundation made the decision to suspend its medical mission trip program for the remainder of the year. While it was heartbreaking to not be able to provide opportunities for direct healthcare and health education to those who need it most, it was the right thing to do to keep our frontline workers and members of the communities we serve safe.
But when one door closes, a window opens. We are so grateful that instead of focusing on what we weren’t able to do, we were able to pivot and focus on what we could do. Most of our effort has been focused on COVID-19 disaster relief support. The Making a Difference Foundation was able to provide funding to six different organizations that are doing great work in the fight against COVID. For example, we were able to support international organizations – like Direct Relief – who were helping providers get much needed PPE. We were also able to support local organizations, like the Junior League of Salt Lake City, who were helping put together and distribute hygiene and COVID supply kits to the underserved population in Salt Lake.
In addition, through a generous donation and changes to the IRS code, we were able to provide small grants to CHG Healthcare employees who were facing challenging circumstances due to COVID.
While COVID has changed everyone’s plans for 2020, we at the Making a Difference Foundation are still committed and grateful for the opportunity to do just that – make a difference. As we head into 2021, we are committed to our mission by getting back to safely doing medical mission trips and supporting your passion to give back and do good in the community.
Keep healthy and safe out there! And keep making a difference!
