County executive, staff help out with gift cards
$500 part of coronavirus relief for Anne Arundel
Shaneirah Colbert got in line at the Heritage Office Complex just before 11 a.m. Saturday.
The complex’s parking lot had been set up with signs leading cars throughout the lot and into the right line. At the end of each of the lineswere a handful of Anne Arundel County employees handing out gift cards for residents who had been affected by the pandemic.
Colbert waited for about 45 minutes in the constantly-moving line. At the end, County Executive Steuart Pittman handed her an envelope with her $500 Visa gift card.
“Iknowa lot ofpeopleneedthis,” Colbert said. “So they’re saints for doing this.”
For Colbert, the $500 means paying some of her bills, so she will not fall too far behind on payments.
“It’s definitely a bit of help,” she said. “Right now, it means a lot. Awhole lot.”
Colbertwasworking at Target when the pandemic began. When schools and daycare services shutdown, shehadto cut back on her hours to stay home with her three children. Needing the mornings at home did not work with her schedule, and, eventually, she lost her job, she said.
She filed for unemployment in September, but there is a problem with her case, and she has not been able to collect.
“My case is sitting on someone’s desk, and I’m waiting for them to get to it,” she said.
Colbert was one of the nearly 1,200 peoplewhoseapplications for the$500was approved by the county. To apply, she needed to submit a pay stub, her address and social security information, she said.
The $500 gift cards come from CARES Act funding, Pittman said. He is also planning to ask the Anne Arundel County Council tomove $2 million to fund another dispersion of money to residents who need it.
The county chose to give out $500 gift cards because $600 would require tax paperwork. The gift cards also allowpeople to use themoneyhowtheywant, whether it is for car insurance, paying a bill or getting groceries, Pittman said.
“Who’s the government to decide how individuals decide [to use the funding],” Pittman said.
Pittman was out on the chilly Saturday morning to have a chance to talk with people who drove up. He would chat with the people before handing them the gift card, asking them a couple of questions about how they were doing. The county executive said he wanted to learn from the
people who came.
“In making decisions on how to spend money, we tend to make decisions based on whowe know,” he said.
There were multiple employees from the AnneArundelWorkforceDevelopmentCorporation and the county, Pittman said.
If theywere out Saturday, hewas going to be too.
Thosein the linewere residentswhowere making $25 an hour or less before their wages were affected by the pandemic, said Kirkland Murray, president and CEO of AnneArundelWorkforceDevelopmentCorporation.
That could mean they were unemployed or had reduced hours. Many residents need help right now, he said.
“We wanted to make sure we’re giving them the help they need,” he said.
The county government is planning more actions to give people additional aid, Murray said.
For now, the $500 is a buffer for residents like Colbert, especially as CARES Act funding runs out.
The money came when the Annapolis resident was trying to figure out her next steps for the end of CARES Act funding. Now, she has a bit of a buffer to help tie her over while she figures out what to do next.
“It was like a breath of fresh air,” Colbert said.