WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — As the coronavirus pandemic put the brakes on many nonprofit donations and fundraisers for more than a year, the leader of one organization is concerned that the delta variant could pause upcoming planned events.
Sandy Munoz is chief executive officer of the Children's Healing Institute, a Palm Beach County nonprofit that annually helps hundreds of families who have children removed from their homes and works with families of premature babies.
"Without them, I don't think I would have emotionally made it," Nicholle Chadwick, whose daughter was born at 27 weeks, told WPTV.
But then came March 2020, and everything stopped.
"March came around and boom, we were told that's it," Munoz said.
Munoz said the pandemic didn't stop the Children's Healing Institute from helping families, but it did stop the fundraising events on which the nonprofit relies.
"We are still playing catch up on that," Munoz said.
Later this month, the Children's Healing Institute will host a cornhole tournament -- the first big fundraising event since 2020.
Munoz is hoping the recent increase in COVID-19 cases won't impact her efforts to fundraise again.
"Just those little steps that, OK, we're moving forward, that hopefully this whole delta thing won't put the kibosh on it again," Munoz said.
Chadwick is also hopeful that the nonprofit can get back to recouping the money it lost during the pandemic.
"There's nowhere to go for that support, for that guidance (without the Children's Healing Institute)," Chadwick said.