Bridge Builders Community Foundations has announced the release of its Community Needs website.
Community Needs, which can be found at bbcfneeds.org, is meant to serve as a platform for various nonprofits to coordinate efforts with community members.
Trenton Moulin, the Bridge Builders CEO and president, said the foundation has continuously searched for the best ways to bring donors together with nonprofits that might need the donors.
On Community Needs, nonprofits can submit a list of needed items for ongoing products and services.The submissions will appear on the front page.
Individuals who want to donate can browse through the website and contact the organization they wish to donate to and coordinate a drop-off time, date and location.
“Instead of being monetary, the website allows for sundry goods and the like to be donated,” said Moulin.
Throughout the coronavirus pandemic, many nonprofit organizations in the area have been faced with the need to continue vital programs and services at the cost of supplies, which can be very hard to come by.
Community Needs is designed to fill that gap and can serve as a way for Bridge Builders to monitor the current tendencies of local nonprofits.
“We can understand what those trends are in the nonprofit community,” said Moulin, who added that Community Needs will better allow Bridge Builders to fulfill its goals.
“We’ll get an idea of what the needs in the community are,” said Moulin.
Interestingly enough, the idea for the Community Needs website didn’t come from the local area.
“I can’t lay credit for the idea,” said Moulin. “It came from an email from the Yakima Community Foundation in Washington. I sent it to Amy (Mook), who took the idea and ran with it. We modified it for our area and went from there.”
Amy Mook is a Keystone SMILES AmeriCorps member who works with Moulin. She said Community Needs already had 15 needs listed.
Looking toward the future, Mook sees Community Needs as an integral part of the nonprofit scene in the area.
“Right now there’s a lot of need from the COVID-19 pandemic, and we do see this continuing,” Mook said. “Eventually we’ll change operations to needs in general.”
Additionally, Bridge Builders has kickstarted the need fulfillment by purchasing a supply of three-ply face masks to distribute to the area’s nonprofits.
Any individuals looking to donate to Bridge Builders to help purchase more masks can do so at the Community Needs website.
Bridge Builders is also searching for individuals willing to donate reusable face masks, and interested donors can contact Bridge Builders at (814) 677-8687.
