Advertisement

Small non-profit groups struggling through pandemic without events, fundraisers

The COVID-19 pandemic and the resulting restrictions have affected both businesses and charities, but smaller, lesser known non-profits in the province are finding the struggle particularly difficult.

Their size and lack of national or provincial profile mean fewer resources to tap into.

"Volunteers and funding are the two challenges," said Ed Arnott, president of the Heart's Content Mizzen Heritage Society.

"Funding is always a challenge," he added, "but volunteer burnout is a big issue."

The Mizzen Society owns three buildings in Heart's Content: a refurbished 142-year-old church that's been converted into a concert venue, a museum and a forge.

"Getting the number of volunteers that you need to operate these buildings and do the things you want to do is a challenge," Arnott said.

Cec Haire/CBC
Cec Haire/CBC

The society took over the old church in 2011 and transformed the dilapidated building into an arts space with a capacity of more than 120. The space is the society's main source of revenue, but it's now been mothballed.

Arnott said there was momentum building before COVID-19 burst their financial bubble.

"From the time we opened in the summer of 2017 up to December 2019, we had 25 concerts, just as many open mic coffee house evenings, and rentals for anniversaries, craft sales," he said.

"We had 12 concerts booked for 2020 and nine coffee houses," Arnott said. "We're temporarily dead."

Arnott said emergency relief from the three levels of government means they now have enough money for insurance and electricity bills.

"They bailed us out. We'll still be solvent in the spring, barring any building catastrophes," Arnott said.

Important fundraisers cancelled due to pandemic

On the other side of Heart's Content Barrens in Conception Bay North, there's a similar struggle for another small, relatively unknown non-profit made up of a passionate group of local volunteers who work to maintain the Adam's Cove schoolhouse.

"We are a continuation of a committee that helped to build the school in 1910," said Robert Hudson, chairperson of the group that looks after the building.

The two-storey wooden structure, with classrooms downstairs and a community hall upstairs, closed as a school in 1967, but the building is still used for community events.

Adam's Cove School/Facebook
Adam's Cove School/Facebook

Thanks to the work of the non-profit, the building now has registered heritage status.

"There are only about three schools built in this style in Newfoundland. It has much of the original woodwork, original spruce floors, not a lot of change. It's an old, historic building that means a lot to the families that lived here," Hudson said.

He added that looking after a building of its age comes with a price and they rely heavily on their one and only annual fundraiser — the harvest festival.

The festival is an annual event that includes a dinner and an auction of locally made Christmas cakes, locally grown vegetables and salt fish. It normally raised $3,000 to $4,000.

"It's our major fundraiser that helps us pay the bills and do upkeep and maintenance," said Hudson.

Adam’s Cove School/Facebook
Adam’s Cove School/Facebook

This October, the festival was cancelled due to COVID-19.

"It's very difficult to have social distancing when you have a dinner and when you have volunteers stand side-by-side in a hot kitchen to prepare it," Hudson said.

"The impact is don't have any extra money to do needed upgrades.… We feel terrible that we don't have the money. The good part is we have minimal expenses, so we're holding on."

He said the group will survive, but they will still need money to keep up on maintenance on the schoolhouse.

"We need paint and we need repairs done on the concrete. And we have to do some things to bring it up to heritage standards."

Read more from CBC Newfoundland and Labrador