Yancey Advancement Foundation COVID-19 Nonprofit Response Fund Announces Utility Assistance Fund

Fund Announces Utility Assistance Fund

For Immediate Release
28 August 2020

Today, the Board of Directors of the Yancey Advancement Foundation announced the
formation of a fund to provide financial assistance to local residents facing delinquent
water and sewer bills as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“The financial impacts felt by our community as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic are
prevalent- from families who have lost income, to struggling with childcare, to balancing
their job with their child’s education, and even making ends meet with their utility bills,”
said Jamie McMahan, local economic development director and Executive Director of
the Yancey Advancement Foundation. “When we established the Yancey County
COVID-19 Nonprofit Response Fund, our goal was to be able to provide financial
assistance to our most vulnerable citizens suffering significant financials impacts as a
result of the crisis. We want to ensure that our families who are delinquent with their
water and sewer bills do not face disconnection of those important services is our
priority.”

“The Town of Burnsville greatly appreciates the forethought and generosity of the
Yancey Advancement Foundation and Director McMahan in making this grant program
available to those in our community struggling to make ends meet during the pandemic.
They saw a need and were more than willing to step up with this timely assistance
program,” said Heather Hockaday, Town Administrator.

It is available to any residential public water and sewer customer who incurred a
delinquency on their bill between March 31, 2020 and July 29, 2020 due to a financial
impact as a result of COVID-19. Grants will be available to water customers from the
Town of Burnsville in the amount of up to $300.00. Customers will need to apply at the
Burnsville Town Hall for the grants.

The following guidelines apply:

  1. Customer must have a delinquency and be on the Town’s water utility Cut-Off
    list.
  2. Customer must complete a COVID-19 impact statement on the application
    acknowledging that the delinquency was due to financial circumstances
    surrounding the COVID-19 Pandemic.
  3. Customer must sign a waiver to have his/her name released to the Yancey
    Foundation for their reporting records. (This information will not be used for
    solicitation, only for internal record keeping purposes)
  4. Customer must agree to pay their July water bill in full at the time of receiving the
    grant funding.

This funding is available for residential customers only. Should commercial customers
need assistance, the Yancey County EDC has funds available for low-interest bridge
loans through the Yancey County COVID-19 Small Business Relief Fund. Those funds
may be applied for through the MAY Coalition through their website at:
https://www.maycoalition.org/yancey-covid19-relief-fund.html

This grant program is made available in partnership with many generous corporate and
individual donations through the fundraising drive-in concert held by the Steep Canyon
Rangers. It was organized and presented by local sponsors Young & McQueen Grading
Company and Homeplace Beer Company and will be administered by the Town of
Burnsville.

All individuals or businesses who wish to partner in this effort may contribute to the fund
in the following ways:

  • By mailing a check made payable to the Yancey Advancement Foundation, Inc. to PO Box 246, Burnsville, NC 28714 with “COVID-19 Response Fund” noted on the memo line of the check
  • All donations made to the Yancey County COVID-19 Response Fund are 100% tax deductible and 100% of all donations will be spent to complement the work and expand local capacity to address all aspects of the outbreak as efficiently as possible during this difficult time.
  • By contributing online by accessing the donation button which can be found on
  • the following websites:
Yancey Advancement Foundation COVID-19 Nonprofit Response Fund Announces Utility Assistance Fund