Announcing the Eye Care Specialists Employee Hardship Fund at the Scranton Area Community Foundation

05.05.23

EMPLOYEE HARDSHIP FUND

at the Scranton Area Community Foundation

Now accepting applications for grants from the Eye Care Specialists Employee Hardship Fund!

The Eye Care Specialists Hardship Fund was established to address hardship issues faced by current employees of Eye Care Specialists – based out of Kingston, PA with locations throughout Pennsylvania.

Grants can support expenses up to $1,000 per individual.

Expenses that can be paid from the Eye Care Specialists Hardship Fund include, but are not limited to:

• rent
• mortgage
• utilities
• vehicle payments
• prescriptions
• temporary housing costs
• medical bills

, provided that sufficient documentation has been provided indicating employee economic hardship

To qualify, an individual must:

1. Be a current employee of Eye Care Specialists at one of the following locations:

• Berwick – 126 West Front St
• Bloomsburg – 1000 Market St., Ste 5
• Dallas – 40 Dallas Shopping Center
• Hazleton – 789 Airport Rd., Ste 105
• Kingston – 703 Rutter Avenue
• Nanticoke – 9 North Market St
• West Pittston – 170 Boston Avenue
• Forty Fort – 190 Welles St, Ste 150

2. Have a demonstrated economic need as the result of one of four qualifying events:

• Natural disaster, such as:
  • Flood
  • Hurricane
  • Tornado
  • Wildfire
  • Severe Storms
  • Earthquake, which has damaged or destroyed a primary residence
• Life-threatening illness or injury to employee or immediate family member
• Death of the employee or immediate family member 
• Other catastrophic and/or distressing events, including, but not limited to:
  • House fire
  • Unavoidable home or vehicle damage
  • Serious crime committed against employee
  • Financial/economic disruptions, such as: high inflation or interest rates, recessionary market conditions, unemployment or immediate family member/partner, and other similar scenarios

Ready to apply? As part of our ongoing commitment to better serve our grant seekers, our grant application process is now streamlined through our online scholarship/grant management portal! All grant requests are handled through the online portal.

• If you have already created a login: you must login using the credentials you’ve utilized for previous grant applications. NOTE: username is always an email.
• If you have NOT created a login, create your account using the following information:
  • A username that is an email address
  • Your contact information

2. On the applicant dashboard, select “Apply” along the top menu. Enter access code “ECS” into the “Access Code” section on the top right and click “Enter Code”.

We have provided additional resources, including a written tutorial, to help you with our new grant application process. To access the tutorials, see “Applicant Tutorials” section of the login screen.

If you have any questions about our grant application process, please contact us via email at grants@safdn.org.