Gym Class Heroes: Cavs Help Raise $148,000 For COVID-19 Relief

It was a night of serious giving and positivity for northeast Ohio during Saturday's "All for The Land: Covid-19 Relief Live" telethon hosted by Cleveland 19 News.

The Ohio Department of Health is reporting 3,709 confirmed cases of the virus and 102 deaths from COVID-19 complications at time of writing. As surreal as the ongoing coronavirus pandemic has been, communities across the nation are coming together to help one another in unprecedented [uhn-pres-i-den-tid] ways.

Cleveland Rocks, and Cleveland Gives

The nearly four-hour telethon was a big success, raising a grand total of $148,000.
Given nationwide social distancing guidelines, celebs and personalities from across the Ohio-region were phoning into the telethon remotely. The event was a marked showing of love and support for COVID-19 relief efforts in the Northeast Ohio region.

All money raised during Saturday’s telefund will support the Greater Cleveland Food Bank and United Way of America.

Cleveland Cavaliers players Kevin Love, Matthew Dellavedova and Larry Nance Jr. headlined Saturday night’s event, offering their support to everyone impacted by the virus.

Benzinga is covering every angle of how the coronavirus affects the financial world. For daily updates, sign up for our coronavirus newsletter.

All You Need Is Love

2016 NBA Champion and five-time All-Star Kevin Love already made headlines when he donated $100,000 to Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse arena workers last month.

Love emphasized his thoughts on the COVID-19 pandemic and appreciation for the Cleveland community during the telethon.

“The NBA has been incredible in their acts of giving to their local communities, their food banks, their hospitals, first responders, medical teams, grocery stores and pharmacies” Love said during his appearance on the telethon.

“It’s really, really cool to see the NBA family step up and do those kinds of things."

Delly Tray

Matthew Dellavedova, a key participant in the Cavs 2016 title run, spent time emphasizing togetherness during these uncertain times.

“Cleveland is a tight knit community and I’m proud to be a part of the Cavs organization,” Delledova said during the telethon.

“I know it’s a tough time for everybody right now but just try and stay positive, follow all the guidelines, keep your social distance, wear your masks and just try to be as positive as you can and we’ll get through this."

The Pride Of Akron

Akron-native Larry Nance Jr. emphasized a call to action for those with the financial resources to give.

“This is a time where we’re all going through it in some type of way,” Nance said during the livestream. “Obviously for those that are able and have some extra time and extra money on their hands and can help some of those less fortunate, I just think it’s so paramount right now because we’re all in this together."

The Giving Is Just Beginning

All money raised during Saturday’s telefund will support the Greater Cleveland Food Bank and United Way of America, but the work is not over.

The Greater Cleveland Response Fund is continuing to accept donations on their. For more information on how to give to the Greater Cleveland Response Fund, please visit the relief fund’s website.

About the Rapid Response Fund

A coalition of Northeast Ohio philanthropic, corporate and civic partners have joined together to create the Greater Cleveland COVID-19 Rapid Response Fund to deploy resources to nonprofit organizations serving on the frontlines of the pandemic in our region.

The Greater Cleveland COVID-19 Rapid Response Fund is designed to complement the work of public health officials and expand local capacity to address all aspects of the outbreak as efficiently as possible. The Rapid Response Fund will provide grant awards on a rolling basis to nonprofit organizations in Cuyahoga, Lake and Geauga counties.

What are the funding priorities of the Rapid Response Fund?

The Rapid Response Fund will begin by deploying resources to address the urgent health, basic human services and economic needs of disproportionately impacted communities and individuals. Initially, grant funding will support nonprofit organizations that provide community safety nets and have strong experience working with the immediate needs of populations made vulnerable by the COVID-19 pandemic. Specifically, the Rapid Response Fund will support nonprofit organizations that serve:

• People over 60 years of age, people with compromised immune systems, those who are pregnant and others with increased health risks associated with the novel coronavirus
• Low-income residents
• Homeless people
• Residents without health insurance and/or access to paid time off work
• People with limited English language proficiency
• Health care, service workers and part-time workers
• People of color
• People with disabilities
• Incarcerated and returning individuals
• Other populations emerging with needs as the crisis unfolds

The Rapid Response Fund will support organizations that are able to deploy resources quickly to meet emergent community needs. Funding partners will also advocate for scaling public sector action that promotes robust and timely public sector financial investment and needed regulatory, administrative and/or program adaptations to address this crisis, including issues surrounding evictions and utility shut-offs, unemployment benefits and lapses in health insurance coverage for children and those supported by Medicaid.