Two metro Atlanta nonprofits focused on ending homelessness for families are the recipients of multimillion-dollar grants from a philanthropic organization started by Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos.
The Day 1 Families Fund gave a total of $105.9 million in grants to 42 nonprofits in 24 states across the country. In Georgia, MUST Ministries was awarded $5 million, and HOPE Atlanta got $2.5 million.
“We feel like we got a Christmas miracle,” said Dwight “Ike” Reighard, the president and CEO of MUST Ministries, which is based in Marietta. “We’re just very thankful.”
He said the organization will use some of the funds to build its new homeless shelter, which it broke ground on earlier this year.
HOPE Atlanta, which recently merged with Action Ministries, said it will use the money to provide housing and other services to an additional 1,500 families experiencing homelessness. The nonprofit has seen a 300% increase in calls for help over the past seven months.
“As more and more families face economic hardship and housing insecurity amid COVID-19 and across our 28-county service area, this gift could not have come at a more critical time,” Jeff Smythe, HOPE Atlanta’s CEO, said in a statement.
Bezos, who founded Amazon and is now considered the world’s richest person, started the Day 1 Families Fund in 2018 to give annual grants to organizations that fight family homelessness.
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