The displaced worker fund at Yachats Community Presbyterian Church gave $100 each to 37 unemployed residents Wednesday after supporters replenished the effort with $19,000 in the past week.
The fund, which started when Yachats businesses were forced to shut down because of coronavirus restrictions, ran out of money last Wednesday when 53 people showed up at the church to get a $100 weekly allotment. Three were turned away.
That led to another request for support from Pastor Bob Barrett. In a week more than $19,000 was donated, Barrett said Wednesday. Some $78,000 has gone to displaced workers.
“I have run out of superlatives to express my gratitude,” he said.
Barrett said there is enough money now to last another three weeks.
The money is meant to provide help to people who live and work in Yachats who have either not yet received unemployment benefits or do not qualify for them.
Barrett said the church has raised $184,000 in seven weeks to support the displaced worker fund, to help the community food bank it is now running, and for grants to Yachats businesses in need of help. It has given out nearly $115,000 of that, he said, including $32,000 in grants to 20 Yachats businesses.
On Thursday, the Oregon Employment Department said 296 more Lincoln County workers filed initial claims for unemployment benefits, bringing the total since March 21 to 4,361. Claims the the previous week were 411.
Across Oregon, another 14,100 workers filed new jobless claims last week, the lowest number in the nearly two months since the coronavirus outbreak hit the state – but an extraordinary tally in any other time in history. Nearly 400,000 Oregonians have applied for unemployment benefits in the past eight weeks, approximately 1 in 5 of all workers in the state.
