The foundation created the $4 million fund to help support workers, but $3.6 million remains unclaimed at this time.
Many workers, including Peter Mohawk, only hear of the fund through friends or fellow workers, and he was surprised when he heard about it.
“I thought it was a southern thing,” he recalled.
When Mohawk applied online for help in paying his $900 health insurance bill, he was approved a short time later.
“I think it was only a day or two,” he said. “I was like ‘this is phenomenal.’”
Kathryn Lott, the executive director of the Southern Smoke Foundation, says that the fund is available to all those workers who need a helping hand during the pandemic.