Resiliency Fund sure could use Walsh’s war chest

Boston Mayor Marty Walsh faces a problem we’d all like to have — what to do with an extra $6 million?

That’s the amount in his reelection campaign war chest, now rendered moot as President-elect Joe Biden tapped Walsh as nominee for the Labor Secretary post in his Cabinet.

Walsh’s impressive fundraising led many to believe that he’d seek another term, and that kind of loot can make serious waves in a campaign.

But now the scrum for Boston’s corner office will likely go on without him, and that hefty bankroll.

He can’t take it with him, but we have a suggestion:

Donate it to the Boston Resiliency Fund.

The fund is Walsh’s baby, launched earlier in the pandemic as the city’s residents and businesses struggled through the shutdown. The fund’s priorities are providing food for children and seniors, technology for remote learning for students, and supporting first responders and health-care workers in Boston. It’s focused on supporting the city’s most vulnerable, including the homeless, those with mental health challenges and substance use disorders, and people with disabilities.

It was a bold move — and a great one.

To date it’s raised $34.1 million in funds, distributing $30.3 million.

Walsh has written a fat check before when he chipped in a half a million dollars from his campaign coffers back in May.

“I have been so moved by Boston’s response to this crisis that I wanted to do something meaningful,” Walsh wrote in an email to supporters after that donation.

“To all those who have supported me in the past, I want to say an extra thank you today. This is your donation as well. You put your trust in me to lead. That’s what this moment calls for,” Walsh wrote.

As the fund got up and running, donations streamed in, doling out some $15.2 million to 165 organizations in its early days. All donations are awarded to local organizations through grants. So far, $7.5 million has gone toward ensuring that Boston’s children, families and seniors have access to food and basic needs.

But though we’re in a new year, with coronavirus vaccines rolling out, the people of Boston could still use help.

Many restaurants and other businesses that shut temporarily at the beginning of the pandemic have closed permanently. The jobless rate in the city was at 6.6% as of November. And the holidays brought gut-wrenching images of people queuing in long lines at food banks, an all-too common sight.

Testing and vaccine sites could benefit from an injection of money if we want to protect our population and reopen our economy fully.

The fund could use the cash: As the city’s web site advises people applying for grants of the Jan. 25 deadline, it also said the Resiliency Fund expects this may be the last round of grantmaking.

A $6 million donation from Mayor Walsh could keep it going.

“I know that this donation will go directly to help our most vulnerable neighbors,” Walsh said in his May email. “Parents working extra shifts at a hospital or losing income due to a business closing. Kids at home needing healthy food and learning technology. Elderly people worried about getting their groceries and medications. That’s who we need to be there for. Those are the kinds of need the Fund is meeting, every day.”

Establishing the Resiliency Fund was the work of a mayor who genuinely cares about his constituents, particularly those who are suffering.

Donating his campaign war chest would be a great parting gift to the city.