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Baker Boyer Bank announced a second round of funding for organizations responding to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Organizations helping people with shelter, clothing, food, health, hygiene, and programs addressing mental health and domestic violence â where the need has increased during the pandemic â received about $60,000 in donations, the 151-year-old community bank announced.
That brings the total to nearly $110,000 in contributions this year.
On top of the donations, Baker Boyer worked with United Way of Blue Mountains and the Blue Mountain Community Foundation to apply for the funds, to be doubled through the All in WA fund.
That fund is a coordinated statewide relief effort powered by a coalition of public officials, companies, community foundations and others addressing services needs due to the pandemic.
Walla Walla will continue its share of funding for the Sleep Center for another year at a cost of $190,000.
The City Council on Wednesday unanimously approved the contract with the nonprofit Walla Walla Alliance for the Homeless, which manages the center, and Pacific Security, which provides security services.
The center for homelesss people currently operates 24/7 and will continue so through March 2021, when it will revert back to its dusk to 9 a.m. services, according to contract amendments the City Council passed unanimously Wednesday at its virtual meeting.
The city was allocated $142,217 from the state Department of Commerce in COVID-19 Outbreak Emergency Housing Grant dollars to meet funding demands for the center staying open longer. So far, it has spent $130,424 and expects to deplete that fund by the end of December, according to Deputy City Manager Elizabeth Chamberlain.