For the people left out of the economic stimulus because they lack pay-stubs, tax returns, other IRS paperwork, or they’re unemployed, a New Orleans-based group of volunteers have come together to offer help.
Founded in mid-March, the Greater New Orleans Caring Collective began by delivering food and helping out those who needed a hand as the early days of the shelter-in-place mandates took hold.
As we’ve pushed into April and stimulus checks are being distributed across the country to the population, GNO Collective is helping people who haven’t received the money promised to them by the federal government.
WWL-TV spoke with GNO Caring Collective Alyssa Silverman about their efforts. “A lot of folks don’t have pay stubs. They don’t have tax returns, maybe they don’t earn enough. Maybe they don’t report to a boss because they’re unemployed and our initial goal was to serve those people because they’re not qualifying for unemployment.”
For those unable to take part in the financial distribution the Collective has created a gofundme page. The aim is raise funds to distribute to those people in need.
The Collective looks to raise $40,000 before they start issuing their own funds to recipients.
“The sooner we get donations, the sooner we’ll be able to open. We don’t want to open up before we’re fully funded,” Silverman tells the TV Station. “The reason for that we don’t want to frustrate our community by opening up and then closing. Because these are large sums of money that are being handed out.”