Originally posted here
You Can Help-Here’s How
The coronavirus pandemic has reached our lovely Mendonoma northern Sonoma/Mendocino Coastal communities. In addition to posing public health challenges, the outbreak has prompted closures of schools and local businesses. These closures place a strain on all our local resources. Many of our small businesses, social services, and medical services struggle to keep their doors open while others closed their doors (hopefully temporarily). It is these restaurants, businesses, and services that form the heart of our community.
Join us
We have long supported our nonprofits and businesses in the area. We hope you will too.
Here are ways to say thank you to our Mendonoma Community members for serving as local ambassadors welcoming and serving you each time you visit. We encourage you to consider supporting them as you can during these difficult times.
Revisit for Updates
I’ll update this list as I learn of other calls for support or businesses that provide shopping online.
How You Can Help Local Nonprofits
Our local nonprofits struggle to meet clients’ needs as the Coronavirus sickens people, forces layoffs and causes school closures. These local nonprofits help sustain our community who in turn makes our community a welcoming one to you who visit here. Here are some of our nonprofits that would welcome donations.
Action Network
Action Network’s current activities supporting the community during this time provide activity bags for local small children and teens. They also provide diapers, Family Wellness Specialists, grocery delivery services.
Family Resource Centers are based in Gualala and Point Arena and for the last 12 years. They serve as a community-based Health-and-Wellness collaborative providing culturally sensitive health and social services to underserved populations on the Coast. Action Network is supported primarily by donations from the local community and grants from private foundations, county, and the federal government. Most programs are provided for free, and they continually strive to provide more services for our local families and children.
How your donation helps
When you donate to Action Network, your dollars benefit your friends and the families that live and work in this idyllic but challenging, part of the Mendonoma Coast. Donations are accepted via Paypal.
Follow them on Facebook.
Coastal Seniors
We continue to send drivers out to deliver meals to seniors in our community. They remain available for those who need them. Their recipients have increased over 35% in the last several weeks and no doubt that percentage will continue to go up. They have teamed up with all the grocery stores in their service area and recruited volunteers who will do grocery shopping/delivery and run errands for those unable to get out. Unfortunately, Services they have canceled include senior lunches and spaghetti dinners. They also had to cancel their big spring fundraiser, March for Meals. Other income resources that normally come in each month have stopped. So please, if you can, send a donation today.
Follow them on Facebook
Credit card charges through their website below:
Send your check to:
Coastal Seniors
PO Box 437
Point Arena, CA 95468
Community Foundation of Mendocino County COVID-19 Relief Fund
The Community Foundation of Mendocino asks donors to help raise funds to support basic needs in Mendocino County during the coronavirus pandemic. The Community Foundation of Mendocino County’s COVID-19 Relief Fund will provide basic needs to individuals and families countywide through our trusted non-profit partners. Funding will primarily be awarded to family resource centers, senior centers, community dining rooms or other non-profits with experience providing safety net services to vulnerable populations, or disaster relief and recovery services to households impacted by a disaster. If you would like to make a countywide impact to support our neighbors and friends as we weather this storm together, please join us by contributing today.
Two types of funding:
(1) Assistance for Individuals and Families: Examples include short-term housing assistance, food, utility bills, medical needs, and assistance with mitigating social isolation or mental health issues due to COVID-19 (phones, computers, therapeutic tools). This will include a small percentage for necessary staffing and overhead expenses to allow our non-profit partners to serve these needs.
(2) Assistance for Non-Profit Organizations: Non-profits are already letting us know they will have long-term implications directly related to the COVID-19 pandemic. These come from increased costs related to the outbreak, cancellation of fundraising events, and loss of fee for service income. This funding will allow them to work effectively during this crisis, while addressing emergency or urgent relief needs.
If you would like your contribution to only go towards individuals/families OR non-profit organizations, you may indicate this in the notes section of your donation. A 1.5% fee will be applied on gifts received.
To learn more about how to become a partner of the COVID-19 Relief Fund, contact Megan Barber Allende at (707) 468–9882 ext. 102 or megan@communityfound.org.
Donate here
To donate to any of our other funds, please click here.
How You Can Help Food Pantries
The following list of food banks, soup kitchens and meal programs around the county provide an essential part of the food security of the county. As mentioned earlier Coastal Seniors, is also a food pantry. They all welcome donations of excess produce from farms and gardens, including yours.
Anderson Valley Food Pantry
Food distribution: 3rd Tuesday of the month 9:00–11:30
United Methodist Church, 13850 Hwy 128, Boonville
895–3887
Gualala Food Pantry
Food distribution: 2nd & 4th Fri: 11–12:30. (Except Nov: 2nd Fri & Wed before Thanksgiving)
37300 Church St (Church), Gualala
884–4330
Fort Bragg Food Bank
Food distribution: Mon & Fri 12:00–3:00
Wed 12:00–4:00, Thurs 4:00–6:00
910 N. Franklin, Fort Bragg
964–9404
www.fortbraggfoodbank.org
How You Can Support Redwood Coast Medical Services
Redwood Coastal Medical Services (RCMS) is a rural health center with a federal charter requiring them to treat every patient, regardless of his or her ability to pay. That is their mission, one they willingly accept. But it is also costly. While government grants, reimbursements from Medicare, MediCal, and private insurance help defray some of our costs, we must rely on financial contributions from individuals and organizations to run our operations and expand programs.
The RCMS medical and dental clinics in Gualala and Point Arena could not operate without your generosity.
Follow them on Facebook
To donate by mail, please send your check or money order to:
RCMS Development Department
P.O. Box 1100
Gualala, CA 95445
How to Support Restaurants, Cafes, and Bars
St. Orres Restaurant “Go Fund Me”
Dear Folks….this is Rosemary from Saint Orres. Saint Orres is looking for your support to help keep our business going. The restaurant and hotel were devastated by the COVID-19 shutdown. Our hearts were broken when we had to lay off our staff some of whom have been working with us for decades.
Saint Orres has been a labor of love serving our community for over 43 years and now we are reaching out for some help. The donations will be used to get our staff back to work and for ongoing expenses.
Donate here
Shop Local — Shop Online
Our small businesses benefit each time you visit Sea Ranch Abalone Bay vacation rental and shop locally. Unfortunately with the shelter in place directives and guidelines business is naturally lowered. Below are businesses that most definitely welcome your continued business by shopping online. Be sure to also follow them on their Instagram, Facebook or other social media outlets as well!
Purchase a Gift Card
Go Local Mendonoma Businesses A great way to support our local stores through COVID-19 shelter in place is to purchase a gift card. Save it for when you are able to return for your vacation or donate it back to the community.
Four-Eyed Frog Books
Four Eyed Frog Bookstore is a community-owned, independent bookstore located in the quaint Mendocino County coastal town of Gualala, in northern California. Unfortunately, they have temporarily closed the Four Eyed Frog and are no longer accepting orders by phone or email, nor offering curbside pickups or porch delivery.
You can still purchase their books and puzzles at the Surf Market in Gualala. You can also order any book you want from the Frog through our website which provides speedy postal delivery from our supplier directly to your home or post office box.
As you know, the Frog is a community bookstore and we are in need of community support, now more than ever. Under the current circumstances, it’s difficult for them to meet basic ongoing expenses such as rent and insurance. You can help them get through this mandatory shut down by making a donation to the Frog.
Simply click Donate here or the Donate button on their website.
Placewares at The Sea Ranch
Placewares gallery is a source of inspiration. It is a well of creativity that sparks a dialogue between fine art and artist collaboration.
NorthCoast Brine Fishwear
NorthCoast Brine Fishwear owner, Emma Hurley offers sea-themed apparel often seen in local shops. This small business notes her inventories fluctuate- if you are interested in one of the items just message her with your interest and she will let you know when it will be in stock.
The Loft
The Loft offers 109 art and sewing categories that you may select from for your online shopping experience.
Lisa’s Luscious Kitchen
Lisa’s Luscious Kitchen Lisa Joakimides offers a mail-order option for her preserves. You may also discover her jams and chutneys in other stores and farm stands. And if you’re really adventurous check out her cookbooks for a DIY experience in the kitchen while sheltering in place.
Little Green Bean Roastery
Little Green Bean Roastery offers a variety of coffees freshly roasted. It is the same coffee that we offer as a welcome to our guests when they vacation at Sea Ranch Abalone Bay. Located on the Mendocino Coast of California, in the small coastal city of Point Arena, their small coffee roastery adheres to the strongest principles of sustainability. They use organic beans and want to support the small farms around the world, whether that be through the fair trade program or direct relationships.
Roots Herbal Apothecary
Roots Herbal Apothecary offers a herbal product line developed by the Roots Herbal Apothecary of Point Arena herbalists!
Originals products are made with plants and oils that are organic and/or ethically wildcrafted, grown and sourced.
Why It Matters
As the menacing wave of Coronavirus built across the United States, the physically isolated community of Gualala, Calif., braced for the worst. Located 45 miles from the nearest chain store, this unincorporated coastal hamlet of 2,100 souls has just a small medical clinic, no police, and no assurance there would even be room of our patients in hospitals 90 minutes away if the need emerged. Without a single ventilator, Gualala — as is often the case in a crisis — was likely on its own.
How Local Agencies Prepared for Coronavirus on the South Coast of Mendocino Co
Tom Murphy, a member of the Gualala Municipal Advisory Council, organized and moderated a Friday night teleconference Town Hall on March 27, 2020, that drew a capacity crowd of 100 local residents. It featured three local officials, who explained how their agencies were preparing for the worst while hoping for the best:
— Barbara Brittell, a Physician’s Assistant from the Redwood Coast Medical Services (RCMS) with medical experience from war zones,
— Nancy Gastonguay, Executive Director of Coastal Seniors, which provides services for the 2,600 seniors in a 60-mile stretch, and
— Gregg Warner, Chief of the South Coast Fire Protection District, the highest ranking first responder in Gualala after four decades of service.
Thank You For Shopping Locally Online
It’s because of you and others who truly appreciate and love our Sea Ranch ~ Mendonoma community we hope to see businesses and services continue to survive if not thrive during these difficult times. While we all wish we could pop on up to the coast we all thank you for checking into the community virtually.
Do share about your virtual shopping trip through Mendonoma in the comments below. And above all ~
Stay safe — Stay home!
