Safe Harbor received $1,000 to cover costs of sanitizing the Kids Konnection visitation space. This is the space where children who have been removed from their homes due to abuse or neglect can have supervised visits with their parents. Under COVID, there is increased need for cleaning the area, and at the same time, the pandemic has reduced donations to Safe Harbor. The grant helps alleviate the need. The funds came from the Knight COVID-19 Aberdeen Sub-fund within the AACF.
In March 2020, Knight Foundation committed $225,000 in partnership with the Aberdeen Area Community Foundation and the South Dakota Community Foundation to provide short-term and long-term relief in response to the pandemic through the AACF Knight COVID Sub-fund. These funds were a portion of the over $10 million Knight Foundation committed to its 26 Knight communities around the country. The funds are meant to address immediate needs within the community while also focusing on priority areas Knight Foundation has identified in Aberdeen. Through September 2020, the fund has made more than $120,000 in grants in the Aberdeen area to address the impact of the pandemic.