The newly formed Blaine Recovery Committee’s first product went live Wednesday, a website in English and Spanish designed to connect community members with financial, health and spiritual resources during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The committee’s $10,000 website is described as a “multi-agency resource center,” or “MARC.” It offers information about public and nongovernmental organizational support for businesses, nonprofits and individuals, as well as ways for philanthropic donors to provide funding.
“The MARC website design was acutely sensitive to the cultural and linguistic variety found in our community,” said Hailey resident Luis Alberto Lecanda, who created the website with committee members.
The new website, which is planned to be updated regularly, has dozens of links gathered by committee members that direct users to local charitable organizations, churches, health and wellness options and economic recovery resources.
The steering committee includes Scott Fortner of Visit Sun Valley, Sally Gillespie of Spur Community Foundation, Harry Griffith of Sun Valley Economic Development and Mike Higgs of Blaine County Chaplaincy. Sun Valley Institute Executive Director Aimée Christensen serves as coordinator for the steering committee.
During a teleconferenced Blaine County town hall meeting Wednesday, Christensen said that the committee and its website would serve long-term coronavirus recovery efforts, citing a similar program set up in New Orleans following Hurricane Katrina that is still in operation today.
Christensen said the new bilingual website is “a clear testament of how our community unifies to help our neighbors throughout the entire spectrum of Blaine County’s geographic and demographic diversity.”
Other members of the Blaine County Recovery Committee include representatives from the Blaine County Charitable Foundation, Blaine County School District, The Chamber of Hailey & the Wood River Valley, the Environmental Resource Center, Friedman Memorial Airport, The Hunger Coalition, NAMI, St. Luke’s Wood River Medical Center, University of Idaho Extension and the Wood River Community YMCA.
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